The Taliban Government has confirmed that at least 400 people have died and another 250 have been injured this Monday at the expense of the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, where rescue teams continue trying to control the fire resulting from the explosion.
“Unfortunately, the death toll so far amounts to 400, while it has been reported that another 250 people have been injured,” lamented the deputy spokesman for the Taliban Executive, Hamdullah Fitrat, in a message published on his social networks in which he added that rescuers are currently working to “recover the bodies of the victims.”
The air attack took place around 9:00 p.m. (around 5:30 p.m. in Spain) against the aforementioned center intended for the care of people in rehabilitation for addictions, which has a capacity of around 2,000 beds, according to Fitrat. “As a result of the attack, large areas of the hospital have been destroyed and there is great concern about the high number of victims,” the spokesperson acknowledged.
For its part, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information has denied that there has been an attack against a hospital in Kabul, alleging that the bombing has been against “military installations and infrastructure supporting terrorism – including warehouses of technical equipment and ammunition of and in Kabul and Nangarhar – that were being used against innocent Pakistani civilians.”
It is worth remembering that the border area between both countries has been a scene of tensions and insecurity for years, especially due to attacks by the TTP group, and in the midst of Islamabad’s accusations against India and the Afghan Taliban for their alleged support for the organization, something that New Delhi and Kabul have denied.
This situation caused the conflict to escalate again at the end of last February, after a series of bombings by Islamabad against alleged targets of the TTP group, known as the Pakistani Taliban, and in the neighboring country, which led the authorities established by the Taliban to launch offensives on the border.
The UN condemnation
The UN special rapporteur for Afghanistan, tonight, condemned Pakistan’s aerial bombardment against the rehabilitation hospital in Kabul. “Dismayed by new reports of Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan and the resulting civilian casualties,” said Rapporteur Bennett in a post on his X account.
The United Nations expert urged the parties to de-escalate, exercise maximum restraint and respect international law, “including the protection of civilians and civilian objects, such as hospitals.”
Other international organizations, such as the International Human Rights Foundation (IHRF), also condemned the bombing of Pakistan and demanded an independent international investigation into the incident to hold those responsible accountable.
The organization stressed the urgency of applying immediate measures to guarantee the protection of medical and rehabilitation centers in conflict zones.
The crisis, which broke out at the end of February after the declaration of an “open war” by Pakistan against the insurgency on Afghan soil, had already accumulated a toll of almost a hundred civilian deaths before tonight, according to the UN. Today’s 400 deaths represent the deadliest blow since the beginning of hostilities.
Islamabad maintains that its operations were precise and targeted against an arsenal of the TTP insurgent group, attributing the destruction of the hospital to secondary explosions of hidden weapons.
