400 killed in Pakistan Strike on Kabul Hospital, Says Taliban
Kabul: Afghanistan accused Pakistan of targeting a hospital for drug users in Afghanistan’s capital late Monday, saying at least 400 people were killed in an airstrike. This marked a dramatic escalation of the conflict, which began late last month and has seen constant cross-border clashes as well as air strikes inside Afghanistan. International calls for a ceasefire were ignored.
Pakistan denied the accusation that it hit a hospital and said that the attacks carried out in eastern Afghanistan did not hit any civilian areas.
Afghan government deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said in a post on channel X that the airstrike hit the hospital around 9pm local time, destroying a large portion of the 2,000-bed facility. He reported that the death toll has reached 400 people so far and approximately 250 people have been injured.
Local television channels on Fitrat said rescue teams were working to control the fire and recover the bodies.
The strike came just hours after Afghan officials said the two sides had exchanged gunfire along their shared border, killing four people in Afghanistan as the neighbors entered a third week of the deadliest conflict in years.
Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the attack on X and accused Pakistan of “targeting hospitals and civilian areas to create fear”. In his post before the death toll reached hundreds, he said that the dead and injured were hospital patients.
“We strongly condemn this crime and consider such an act contrary to all accepted principles and a crime against humanity.”
Pakistan rejected the allegations. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesman, Mosharraf Zaidi, rejected the allegations as unfounded, saying that no hospital was targeted in Kabul.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information, in a post published on
He said the targeting of Pakistan “was carried out in a precise and careful manner to ensure that no collateral damage occurred.” The ministry said Mujahid’s claim was “false and misleading” and was intended to raise awareness and cover up what it described as “illegitimate support for cross-border terrorism”.
UN calls for Afghanistan to fight militants The strike took place a few hours after the UN Security Council called on Taliban rulers in Afghanistan to immediately step up their efforts to fight terrorism. Pakistan accuses Kabul of harboring militant groups, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, which it says carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
The unanimously adopted Security Council resolution does not include Pakistan’s name, but condemns “all terrorist activities, including terrorist attacks, in the strongest terms.” The decision also extends the mandate of UNAMA, the UN’s political mission in Afghanistan, by three months.
The Pakistani government accuses Afghanistan of providing safe haven to the Pakistani Taliban, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, as well as outlawed Baloch separatist groups and other militants who frequently target Pakistani security forces and civilians across the country. Cain denies the accusation.
Latest conflict The fiercest conflict between the two neighbors began in late February after Afghanistan launched cross-border attacks in response to Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan that Kabul said killed civilians. The clashes disrupted a ceasefire brokered by Qatar in October after dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants were killed in earlier clashes.
Pakistan declared that it was in “open war” with Afghanistan. The conflict has alarmed the international community, especially as the region is an area where other militant organizations, including Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group, still maintain a presence and are trying to resurface.
On Sunday, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the army had killed 684 Afghan Taliban forces; This claim was denied by Afghanistan and the losses were stated to be much lower. Afghanistan killed more than 100 Pakistani soldiers, the Afghan Ministry of Defense and other officials said.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said that the Afghan Taliban government crossed the “red line” by deploying unmanned aerial vehicles that injured many civilians in Pakistan last week.
Responding to these attacks, Pakistan’s air force attacked equipment storage sites and “technical support infrastructure” in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar Province over the weekend, saying they were used in attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul said Pakistan struck two sites, including an empty security area and a drug rehabilitation center that sustained minor damage.
Afghanistan’s administrative Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi said in Kabul that it is the duty of all citizens to defend sovereignty. Speaking at a meeting with political analysts and media figures, Hanafi expressed his regret for the civilian casualties in Pakistan’s recent attacks and said that the war was imposed on Afghanistan.
