Taliban says hundreds killed in Pakistani air strike on Kabul hospital
A Taliban official has accused Pakistan of killing at least 400 people at a drug rehabilitation facility in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.
Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for the Taliban government of Afghanistan, said the 2,000-bed Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital was attacked late on Monday evening.
Images taken by the AFP news agency showed Afghan members of the Red Crescent removing bodies from the rubble.
Surviving patients were also pictured gathered in a holding area near the ruins of the targeted building.
"As a result of the attack, large sections of the hospital have been destroyed, and there are serious concerns about a high number of casualties," Fitrat wrote on X.
"Unfortunately, the death toll has so far reached 400, while around 250 others have been reported injured."
Pakistani denial
Islamabad has rejected the claim, with an official calling it “false and aimed at misleading public opinion”. Pakistan insists that only a military facility was targeted.
Pakistan's information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said: "All targeting has been done with precision only at those infrastructures which are being used by Afghan Taliban regime to support its multiple terror proxies including Fitna Al Khawarij and Fitna Al Hindustan."
Tarar was referring to two armed groups that have attacked Pakistani military and civilian targets in the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions.
Islamabad accuses India and Afghanistan of funding, training and harbouring such groups.
Tensions have been high between Pakistan and the Taliban since the latter’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 following the US retreat from the region and consequent collapse of the government it supported. The former allies have been in open conflict since February.
Pakistan says it has killed hundreds of Taliban fighters in air strikes and skirmishes along the 2,640km border it shares with Afghanistan.
The Taliban also claims to have killed hundreds of Pakistani soldiers.
While there is no accurate tally of civilians killed, both sides regularly accuse the other of targeting non-combatants.
The Taliban is largely made up of members of the Pashtun ethnic group, who also have a large population in Afghanistan.
Around 40 million of Pakistan's estimated population of over 200 million are ethnic Pashtuns.
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
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