3 Americans killed by Afghan security guard in Kabul

An Afghan security guard opened fire on a group of foreigners at a Kabul hospital Thursday morning, killing three Americans, including a doctor, and wounding a U.S. nurse and an Afghan police officer, officials said. The shooting at Cure International Hospital was the latest in a string of deadly attacks on foreign civilians in the Afghan capital this year.

Two of the dead Americans were a visiting father and son, Minister of Health Suraya Dalil said, adding that the third was a Cure International doctor who had worked for seven years in Kabul.

"A child specialist doctor who was working in this hospital for the last seven years for the people of Afghanistan was killed, and also two others who were here to meet him,” Dalil said.

The attacker was a member of the Afghan Public Protection Force assigned to guard the hospital, according to District Police Chief Hafiz Khan. He said the man's motive was not yet clear.

The gunman was wounded, but it is unclear how. After being treated in the surgery department of the same hospital, he was brought in for questioning by police.

"Five doctors had entered the compound of the hospital and were walking toward the building when the guard opened fire on them," said Kanishka Bektash Torkystani, a Ministry of Health spokesman.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul confirmed that three American citizens had been killed in the hospital attack, but it said it had no other information.

According the website of the Cure International Hospital, it was founded in 2005 at the invitation of the Afghan Ministry of Health. It sees 37,000 patients a year, specializing in child and maternity health as well as general surgery. It is affiliated with the Christian charity Cure International, which operates in 29 countries with the motto "Curing the sick and proclaiming the kingdom of God."

The Afghan capital has seen a spate of attacks on foreign civilians in 2014, a worrisome new trend as the U.S.-led NATO military coalition prepares to withdraw most troops by the end of the year.

It was unclear whether the Taliban were behind Thursday's shooting, though the insurgents have claimed responsibility for several major attacks that killed foreign civilians this year.

In January, a Taliban-led attack using suicide bombers and gunmen on a popular Kabul restaurant killed more than a dozen people. In March, gunmen slipped past security at an upscale hotel in the Afghan capital and killed several diners in its restaurant. And two foreign journalists were killed and another wounded in two separate attacks, also in March.

The hospital shooting is the second "insider attack" by a member of Afghan security forces targeting foreign civilians this month.

On April 4, an Afghan police officer shot two Associated Press staff members working in the eastern province of Khost, killing photographer Anja Niedringhaus and wounding veteran correspondent Kathy Gannon.

Wire services