A Pakistan airstrike in Afghanistan has devastated the 'Omid' (Hope) drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul, resulting in significant civilian casualties. The United Nations' preliminary death toll stands at 143, but the Taliban administration claims the figure exceeds 400. The strike occurred during the final days of Ramadan, shortly after Tarawih night prayers, trapping many patients as they slept or rested, leading to a catastrophic loss of life.

Sohrab Faqiri's brother, Qais, had been receiving treatment for drug addiction at the centre for three months. After the airstrike, Faqiri rushed to the site but could not find his brother among the survivors. He spent two days searching Kabul's hospitals in vain before accidentally spotting Qais in a video of mass burials conducted by authorities. On Eid al-Fitr, he visited the hillside graveyard on Kabul's outskirts where the burial took place, only to find rows of unmarked graves. “The worst part is that we don't know his grave,” Faqiri said, weeping at the cemetery. He has yet to gather the courage to inform their mother.

Wali Nazir Mohammad, 23, was asleep in one of the centre's smaller buildings when the explosion awoke him to a room engulfed in flames, with many fellow patients dead or screaming for help. Shrapnel piercing the walls severely injured his waist and leg. He was taken to Wazir Akbar Khan hospital about half an hour later. “I have a message for our government: please take our revenge,” Mohammad stated from his hospital bed. “If the government cannot take our revenge, I ask them to give us weapons.”

Juma Khan Nael of the Afghan Red Crescent Society reported that many patients had completed treatment and were scheduled for discharge the next day. He described the fire ignited by the bombing as visible for miles, calling it “unthinkable” and uncontrollable, with no one able to rescue those trapped. Upon arriving the morning after the strike, Nael found rescue workers still digging through debris, recovering only body parts amid the smell of burnt flesh. Maisam Shafiey of the Norwegian Refugee Council noted smoke still rising the next morning, with a large building reduced to rubble, indicating many victims were together in one structure.

Dejan Panic, country director of the Italian NGO Emergency, which runs a major Kabul hospital, reported receiving 24 wounded and three dead, many with shrapnel injuries—a rarity since the Taliban's 2021 takeover. He recounted patients praising the rehabilitation centre for providing good food, clothing, and “a second chance in life.” Afghan authorities claim 408 killed and 265 injured, while Islamabad maintains it targeted military infrastructure, alleging the Taliban harbours terrorists attacking Pakistan. Georgette Gagnon, deputy head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, expects the death toll to rise and has called for de-escalation and a renewed ceasefire, noting the centre was within a facility run by the de facto administration and was formerly a US military base before 2015.

Source: www.theguardian.com