KANDAHAR, Dec 14: Fearing retribution, 13 injured Arab fighters were holed up Thursday at the city’s main hospital, threatening to blow themselves up if anyone other than medical staff entered their rooms.

The captives, suspected of links to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaida network, were wounded either by US bombing or in fighting with Afghan tribal forces which took over Kandahar from the Taliban on Friday.

They were brought to the Mirwais Hospital a few days before the Taliban handed over their main southern stronghold to Pakhtoon tribal leaders and fled the city. The Arabs have explosives tied to their waists, hospital staff said.

“They have given an ultimatum. If someone else comes in, they’ll blow themselves up,” Ghulam Mohammed Afghan, head nurse at Mirwais Hospital, said Thursday. “Only a few nurses are allowed to go in. Even I don’t visit them.”

The Arabs lie in their beds with hand grenades and other explosives strapped to them, Mohammed said.

“They don’t allow anybody to see them except just those who are treating them, dressing the wounds or cleaning the rooms,” he said.

“They are scared and they don’t want to talk about anything. It’s extremely difficult for the hospital staff because they or other patients could get injured. It’s dangerous.”

But he said he had a duty to treat them and expected that the international Red Cross, which funds the hospital, would eventually take charge of his patients.

The Arabs, staying in three guarded rooms, have benefited for now from the lack of coherent authority in Kandahar, which rival commanders have divided among themselves.—APP