An airstrike attributed to Pakistan struck the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul on March 18, killing more than 408 people and injuring about 250, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said. Many of the victims were patients receiving treatment and staff working at the facility, according to officials cited by local media.
Separately, the Pakistani military fired 124 rockets into districts of Kunar province over a 24-hour period, Kunar authorities told Tolo News. Zia-ul-Rahman Spin Ghar, head of information at the Kunar Directorate of Information and Culture, said the strikes were launched near the Durand Line; no casualties were reported from those rocket attacks, but nearly 7,500 families from border districts have been displaced and moved to safer areas, the province’s Department of Refugees and Repatriation reported.
The United Nations called for a prompt, independent and transparent investigation into the hospital strike and for those responsible to be held accountable. UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan urged an immediate inquiry, while the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) expressed condolences and underlined that attacks on hospitals and other civilian infrastructure violate international law. UNAMA repeated appeals for de-escalation, an immediate ceasefire and full respect for obligations to protect civilians.
UNHCR said that since hostilities intensified at the end of last month, 289 Afghan civilians — including 104 children and 59 women — have been killed or injured, and tens of thousands, mainly in the south and southeast, have been displaced by fighting.
Speaking to ambassadors, diplomats and international organisation representatives in Kabul, FM Amir Khan Muttaqi said Afghanistan had lost trust in Pakistan’s commitment to diplomacy and accused the Pakistani military establishment of showing no respect for diplomatic solutions. India strongly condemned the strike, calling it barbaric, urged the international community to hold perpetrators accountable and expressed condolences to the victims’ families.
The accounts and figures above were reported by local and international agencies and are drawn from a syndicated news feed.
