Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of killing at least 400 in air strike on Kabul hospital

At least 400 people were killed and 250 injured in an air strike by Pakistan on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, a ‌spokesman of the Afghan Taliban government said on Tuesday, a sharp escalation in the conflict between the neighbours.

The air strike came hours after ‌China said it remained ready to continue efforts to ease tensions between the South Asian Islamic nations and urged both to avoid expanding the war and return to the negotiating table.

The conflict that began last month is the worst ever between the neighbours who share a 2,600-km border.

It had ebbed amid attempts by friendly countries, including China, to mediate and end the fighting before flaring up again, this ‌time just days before the Eid Al Fitr festival that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

This photo shows the site after Pakistani airstrikes hit the Secondary Rehabilitation Services Centre in Kabul on Tuesday. AFP

The escalation comes amid wider instability in the neighbourhood where the US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran's ⁠retaliation have plunged the Middle East into a crisis.

It was like doomsday, says a survivor

At the site, a blackened single-storey structure bore the marks of flames. In other places, buildings were reduced to heaps of wood and metal, with only a few bunk beds still intact in some, while blankets, personal belongings and bedding were strewn about.

Witnesses said they heard three bombs exploding just as people in the hospital were completing evening prayers and two of them struck rooms and patient areas.

"The whole place caught fire. It was like doomsday," said Ahmad, 50, who said he was under treatment at the facility and gave only his first name. "My friends were burning in the fire, and we could not save them all."

Visuals from local media taken overnight showed flames engulfing ​a single-storey building, while thick smoke billowed from another section of the same complex and workers took away bodies on stretchers.

Ambulances and police vehicles were parked near the ‌gate of the damaged facility, which a sign identified as a "drug addiction treatment hospital" with 1,000 beds, while security personnel maintained guard.

Patients sit inside a yard at the site after Pakistani airstrikes hit the Secondary Rehabilitation Services Centre in Kabul on Tuesday. AFP

"When I arrived (last night), I saw that everything was burning, people were burning," ambulance driver Haji Fahim told Reuters. "Early in the morning they called me again and told me to come back because there are still bodies under the rubble."

'Constant lies,' says Pakistan

Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy ⁠spokesman for the Taliban, said the air strike took place at 9 p.m. (1630 GMT) on Monday and targeted the state-run Omid hospital, which he said was a 2,000-bed drug rehabilitation centre.

"Large parts of the hospital have been destroyed, and there are fears of heavy casualties," he said in a post on X. "Sadly, the number of those killed has so far reached 400, with up to 250 others injured."

Rescue teams were at the ​scene working to control ‌the fire and recover the victims, he added, without sharing details of how many bodies had been recovered and how the casualties had been counted.

Smoke rises as firefighters work to extinguish a fire at the site of a drug users rehabilitation hospital destroyed in a Pakistani air strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday. Reuters

Reuters could not verify the casualty numbers. ‌Through the conflict, both sides have claimed to have inflicted heavy damage on the other but independent verification has not been possible.

The Omid hospital was established in 2016 and has treated hundreds of people, also providing them with ‌vocational training such as tailoring and carpentry to make them more employable, according to local media reports.

Fierce fighting between the South Asian neighbours, who were close allies earlier, erupted last month with Pakistani air strikes in Afghanistan that Islamabad said targeted militant strongholds.

An ambulance is parked outside a drug users rehabilitation hospital destroyed in what the Taliban said was a Pakistani air strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday. Reuters

Afghanistan called the strikes a violation of its sovereignty that targeted civilians and launched ⁠its own attacks.

Richard Bennett, the UN Special ​Rapporteur for human rights in Afghanistan, said he was "dismayed" by fresh reports of Pakistani air strikes and resulting civilian deaths.

"My condolences. I urge parties to de-escalate, exercise maximum restraint and respect international law, including the protection of civilians and civilian objects such as hospitals," he said in a post on X.

Reuters