Hero mum is breastfeeding 20 newborns after terrorists killed their mums

A mum has volunteered to breastfeed 20 newborn babies whose mothers were slaughtered in a gruesome terror attack in Afghanistan.

The 'hero' mother is feeding the children following the barbaric assault on a Kabul maternity unit where nurses, mothers, and two newborns were slaughtered this week.

Feroza Younis Omar volunteered to feed the babies left without their mothers in the attack on the Doctors Without Borders maternity unit in the Afghan capital, in which 24 died.

A powerful photograph captures the woman, who has her own 14-month-old baby, breastfeeding another infant at the hospital which militants stormed earlier this week in an attack that shocked the world.

The woman, who works at the country's Economic Ministry, said: “All of us have been damaged by criminals who are destroying humanity in Afghanistan. I am one of those.”

Three gunmen dressed as police officers stormed the maternity hospital in the Afghan capital on Tuesday morning.

They threw grenades before opening fire on hospital workers, mothers and newborn babies.

Khadija, one of the few survivors of the attack, revealed that she had been forced to wait to hug her newborn son for the first time as the armed group stormed the unit just hours after she gave birth.

She said the intensive care ward had been full of smoke and bullets but both she and her son survived, with Khadija herself having to hide under a table to avoid the bullets.

No group has so far claimed the attack, but the country's president Ashraf Ghani has blamed the Taliban and asked the military to step up operations against the group.

However the United States has blamed Islamic State militants — not the Taliban — for the gruesome hospital attack that killed two newborn babies.

It renewed calls for Afghans to embrace a troubled peace push with the Taliban insurgency.

The attackers were eventually killed in a lengthy operation by the Afghan security forces.

Following the attack, at least twenty newborns were left without caretakers and were transferred to the Ataturk Hospital in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The hospital's head doctor Jannat Gul Askarzada told reporters: “Twenty babies have been brought to Ataturk Hospital. One of them was sent to the children’s health hospital for orthopedic treatment.”

As the news hit the headlines in Afghanistan, many people praised the mother on Twitter for her efforts and a hashtag bearing her name went viral.

Masoom Musakhail tweeted: “That is the Humanity to feed the baby of martyred Mothers.”

A senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, Karim Sadjadpour, called the mum "a true hero."

More mothers inspired by her actions have since stepped in to follow in Feroza's footsteps.

Aziza Kermani, from Kabul, told local media: “I am ready to adopt one of the babies who have lost their mother or whose families do not have the financial ability to raise them.”

Another resident of the capital, who only gave her name as Fatima, told a local news outlet that she also came to the hospital to help the children.