Rescue teams are continuing to pull bodies from the smoking rubble of a drug rehabilitation center in the Afghan capital, Kabul, which was hit on Monday night in a devastating Pakistani air strike. The attack on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, which happened at about 21:00 local time (16:30 GMT), is the deadliest in recent violence between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The strike occurred as residents broke their daily fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Taliban government reports that about 400 people were killed, though this figure is yet to be verified. Many more individuals have sustained injuries.
Mohammad Shafee, a patient in his 20s, survived the attack. I was in the kitchen helping to serve dinner when I heard a loud bang and ran for safety, he relayed. When I returned, I found most of our colleagues and people in the dining room hit. Only five of us survived. Dr. Maiwand Hoshmand, who works at the facility, noted that patients had just finished dinner when jets bombed three parts of the center.
Eyewitness accounts describe a chaotic scene as the facility was engulfed in flames. Ahmad, another patient, recounted, My friends were burning in the fire, and we could not save them all.
The facility, originally a military training ground, had transformed into a rehab center in recent years to address Afghanistan's growing drug addiction crisis. The center was reportedly holding thousands of patients, exceeding its intended capacity.
As police vehicles and ambulances responded to the scene, families gathered, anxiously searching for missing loved ones. Reports indicate that over 100 bodies have been recovered, yet many further remain unidentified due to severe disfigurations.
The ongoing border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have seen escalating violence, with UN officials urging calm amid the turmoil affecting health facilities in the area.
