At least 400 killed in Kabul hospital strike, Afghan government says Pakistan responsible
As of 12 PM IST, around 400 people reportedly lost their lives at a drug treatment centre in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, after an airstrike that the Taliban government blamed on Pakistan, as per NDTV.
Pakistan denied targeting the hospital on 16 March, saying its strikes were aimed at military sites and what it called “terrorist infrastructure” in Kabul and Nangarhar.
Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said in a post on X that the hospital was hit in an airstrike around 9 pm, destroying large parts of the 2,000-bed facility. He added that the death toll had reached about 400, with nearly 250 people injured.
A spokesperson for Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif rejected the allegations, saying no hospital was targeted and that the operation was carried out precisely to avoid civilian casualties.
This marked one of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan since the suicide bombing at Kabul airport during the US withdrawal in 2021, when at least 169 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members lost their lives.
Reacting to the attack in Kabul, the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, “This is a cowardly and unconscionable act of violence that has claimed the lives of a large number of civilians in a facility which can by no means be justified as a military target.”
The Ministry called it a “heinous act of aggression by Pakistan” and added, “The international community must hold the perpetrators of this criminal act accountable and ensure that the wanton targeting by Pakistan of civilians in Afghanistan ceases without delay.”
India expressed condolences to the affected families and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
Pakistan denied targeting the hospital on 16 March, saying its strikes were aimed at military sites and what it called “terrorist infrastructure” in Kabul and Nangarhar.
Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said in a post on X that the hospital was hit in an airstrike around 9 pm, destroying large parts of the 2,000-bed facility. He added that the death toll had reached about 400, with nearly 250 people injured.
A spokesperson for Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif rejected the allegations, saying no hospital was targeted and that the operation was carried out precisely to avoid civilian casualties.
This marked one of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan since the suicide bombing at Kabul airport during the US withdrawal in 2021, when at least 169 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members lost their lives.
Reacting to the attack in Kabul, the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, “This is a cowardly and unconscionable act of violence that has claimed the lives of a large number of civilians in a facility which can by no means be justified as a military target.”
The Ministry called it a “heinous act of aggression by Pakistan” and added, “The international community must hold the perpetrators of this criminal act accountable and ensure that the wanton targeting by Pakistan of civilians in Afghanistan ceases without delay.”
India expressed condolences to the affected families and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
