Afghanistan Claims 400 Dead in Pakistani Airstrike on Kabul Hospital; Pakistan Denies Targeting Civilian Site

Afghanistan claims that at least 400 people were killed in a Pakistani airstrike on a hospital treating drug users in the capital Kabul on Monday night. However, Pakistan has denied the accusation of attacking the hospital. 

Pakistan stated that its attacks, also carried out in eastern Afghanistan, did not target any non-military areas.

Afghanistan's Deputy Government Spokesperson, Hamdullah Fitrat, informed via a post on the social media platform X that the airstrike occurred around 9 PM local time at the hospital. The attack destroyed a large part of the 2,000-bed capacity hospital. He stated that the death toll has reached 400 so far, with approximately 250 people injured.

Video footage posted on X by local television stations shows security personnel using flashlights to rescue the injured and firefighters struggling to extinguish the fire in the debris of the collapsed building. According to Fitrat, rescue teams are deployed to control the fire and retrieve the bodies.

The deadliest fighting between the two neighboring countries in years has entered its third week. Just a few hours before this airstrike, there was an exchange of fire between both sides in the shared border area, in which four people died on the Afghan side, Afghan officials said.

The Afghan government condemned the attack, accusing Pakistan of 'targeting hospitals and civilian sites to create terror' allegations.