Taliban-ruled Afghanistan on Monday night said at least 400 people were killed and 250 were injured in a Pakistani airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul.
Deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said that the strike destroyed large portions of the 2,000-bed facility, adding that the rescue operation was underway and the teams were working to recover the bodies.
Calling the strikes a violation of its sovereignty, the Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the attack and accused Pakistan of “targeting hospitals and civilian sites to perpetrate horrors”.
Here are the key developments since the ‘open war’ broke:
– ‘Strikes precisely targeted military installations,’ says Pak: Pakistan’s Ministry of Information said the strikes “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure, including technical equipment storage and ammunition storage of Afghan Taliban” and Afghanistan-based Pakistani militants in Kabul and Nangarhar. Islamabad alleged that the facilities were being used against innocent Pakistani civilians and said Pakistan’s strikes were “precise and carefully undertaken to ensure no collateral damage is inflicted”.
– India slams Pakistan: India condemned Pakistan’s attack as “barbaric” and a “heinous act of aggression” that blatantly violates Afghanistan’s sovereignty. In a sharply-worded statement, the Ministry of External Affairs’ official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “India unequivocally condemns Pakistan’s barbaric airstrike on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul on the night of March 16. 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. Pakistan is now trying to dress up a massacre as a military operation.”
– Afghanistan Cricket Board condemns violence: The Afghanistan Cricket Board, as well as the players and officials, condemned the Pakistani strike and expressed solidarity with victims and their families.
– Pakistan denies targeting civilians: Pakistan rejected Afghanistan’s accusations of targeting civilians, stating that its airstrikes did not hit any civilian infrastructure. Prime Minister ’s spokesperson Mosharraf Zaidi termed the claims “baseless,” while Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said “precision airstrikes” targeted military installations in Kabul and Nangarhar.
