KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan conducted its second mass burial ceremony on Thursday for victims of a devastating airstrike that targeted a drug rehabilitation facility in Kabul earlier this month. Sixty coffins were lowered into individual graves within a massive excavation prepared by bulldozers at the capital’s cemetery.
The March 16 strike on the 2,000-bed Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital has sparked international concern amid escalating hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghan health officials now report the death toll has reached 411, with 263 wounded, according to Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman. The United Nations continues to verify casualty figures while Pakistan maintains it targeted an ammunition depot, not civilian facilities.
The conflict originated in February with repeated cross-border clashes and airstrikes within Afghan territory. Pakistan alleges Afghanistan provides sanctuary to militant groups conducting operations inside Pakistan, particularly the Pakistani Taliban (TTP). Although distinct from Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, the TTP maintains close ties with the Kabul government, which denies providing safe havens.
The situation intensified last month when Pakistan declared open warfare with Afghanistan, raising alarms within the international community about potential resurgence of al-Qaida and Islamic State elements in the region.
A temporary ceasefire mediated by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar during Eid al-Fitr provided brief respite, but hostilities resumed this week. Afghan officials report renewed fighting on Wednesday resulted in at least two civilian deaths in eastern Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the TTP announced it has resumed attacks inside Pakistan after observing its own three-day Eid ceasefire.
The Omid hospital represented a cornerstone of the Taliban government’s efforts to combat widespread drug addiction stemming from Afghanistan’s opium production and decades of conflict. Located near Kabul’s international airport and adjacent to the former NATO base Camp Phoenix, the facility suffered intense fires that left many victims unrecognizable.