“Doomsday” strike by Pakistan hits Kabul rehab centre

A senior Taliban official has said that Pakistan killed 408 people in an airstrike which targeted a drug rehab clinic in Kabul. The strike landed at 9pm on 16 March, allegedly wounded over 200, in addition to those killed. A Pakistani official said they had only targeted ‘military’ and ‘terrorist’ infrastructure.

Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat posted on X:

The Pakistani military regime carried out an airstrike at approximately 9:00 PM this evening on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, a 2,000-bed facility dedicated to the treatment of drug addiction. 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.

Unfortunately, the death toll has so far reached 400, while around 250 others have been reported injured. Rescue teams are currently at the scene working to control the fire and recover the remaining bodies of the victims.

The information minister of Pakistan, Attaullah Tarar, shared the following details:

Doomsday scenes

He and his 25 roommates had gathered in their dormitory after prayers when the attack occurred. He ​was the only survivor among them.

many young people under treatment lived in large containers on the campus and very few ​survived the strike…It was extremely terrifying. Those who survived were the ones whose rooms were not destroyed ​and were fortunate. But the places where the bombs were dropped, everyone there was killed.

Afghanistan-Pakistan border war

Fighting between the formerly US-occupied nation and Pakistan (itself a US partner) kicked off in February. At the time, the Canary reported how Pakistani officials were already calling the confrontation an ‘open war’ back in late February.

In an explainer Reuters said:

Allies-turned-foes ⁠Pakistan and Afghanistan’s worst fighting in years erupted last month, with Pakistani air strikes inside Afghanistan ​that Islamabad said targeted militant strongholds.

Afghanistan called the strikes a violation of its sovereignty that ​targeted civilians, and launched retaliatory operations.

Over the last three weeks, both countries have launched air and drone strikes against each other and also engaged in ground firing across their 2,600-km (1,600-mile) border, with each claiming ​to have inflicted heavy damage and killed hundreds of opposition troops, without providing evidence.

Featured image via X/Canary