400 killed in Pakistani airstrike on Kabul hospital

Pakistan's air force carried out an airstrike late Monday night targeting a drug addiction treatment hospital in the Afghan capital of Kabul, killing at least 400 people and injuring around 250 others, an Afghan official said Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman of the Afghan government, said in a statement posted on the social media platform X that the airstrike, launched at around 9:00 p.m. local time on Monday, struck the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul.

The hospital, a 2,000-bed facility dedicated to the treatment of drug addiction patients, was largely destroyed in the attack, Fitrat said, warning that the number of casualties could further rise.

According to the official, the airstrike triggered a large fire at the hospital. Rescue teams are working to control the fire and recover the remaining bodies of the victims.

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Monday refuted the Afghan government's claim, saying the country targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure in Afghanistan.

Pakistan security forces precisely targeted technical equipment storage and ammunition storage in Kabul and Nangarhar province of Afghanistan that were used against Pakistani people, according to Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have sharply escalated since clashes erupted along their border late last month. Scores of people from both sides have been killed and injured, according to Afghan and Pakistani officials.

Meanwhile, skirmishes between Afghan and Pakistani troops left seven dead on the Pakistani side along the border in the eastern Khost province of Afghanistan on Monday night, provincial government spokesman Mustaghfar Gurbaz said.

"Afghan defensive forces attacked a Pakistani military post along the border in Ali Shir district last night, killing seven soldiers," the official Radio and Television of Afghanistan quoted Gurbaz on Tuesday as saying.

Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have escalated since clashes erupted along their border late last month.