Taliban fighters stand guard as their comrade searches a man outside the military hospital in Kabul. Reuters

A Taliban military commander in Kabul, Hamdullah Mokhlis, was among the fighters killed when his men responded to a Daesh attack on a hospital, officials said on Wednesday.

Mokhlis, a member of the hardline Haqqani network and an officer in the Badri Corps special forces, is the most senior figure to have been killed since the Taliban seized the capital.

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Explosion gunfire heard near military hospital in Kabul

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Earlier, an explosion rocked Afghanistan's capital on Tuesday apparently targeting civilians in front of a military hospital, a Taliban spokesman said.

A Taliban fighter is pictured at the entrance of the hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday. Reuters

At least 19 people were killed and 50 more wounded in an attack on a military hospital in Kabul, the latest atrocity to rock Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power.

Taliban deputy spokesman Bilal Karimi told the media that the explosion in Kabul targeted civilians outside Sardar Mohammad Dawood Khan military hospital.

The Taliban's rivals, the Daesh group, claimed responsibility for the gun and bomb assault in the centre of the capital.

Daesh said in a statement on its Telegram channels that "five Daesh group fighters carried out simultaneous coordinated attacks" on the sprawling site.

"The Daesh insurgents wanted to target civilians, doctors and patients in the hospital," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, claiming that Taliban forces had repulsed the attack within 15 minutes.