Islamabad, March 17 Pakistan overnight carried out "precision airstrikes" targeting what it described as terrorists and their support infrastructure locations across Afghanistan. However, the Afghan government accused Islamabad of bombing a rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, resulting in at least 400 deaths.
These strikes came as Operation Ghazab lil Haq, launched on February 26, continued, according to Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Pakistan launched the operation in response to alleged attacks by the Afghan Taliban forces along the 2,600-km-long border.
"Pakistan's Armed Forces successfully carried out precision airstrikes on the night of March 16 as part of Operation Ghazab Lil Haq, targeting Afghan Taliban regime's military installations in Kabul and Nangarhar that were sponsoring terrorism," Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a post on X.
He claimed that the technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage facilities at two locations in Kabul were effectively destroyed. He added that the presence of large ammunition depots was clearly indicated by the secondary detonations.
He also claimed that four Afghan Taliban regime "terrorism-sponsoring" military sites were struck in Nangarhar, destroying associated logistics, ammunition, and technical infrastructure.
However, Deputy Spokesman of the Afghan Taliban-led government, Hamdullah Fitrat, said that Pakistan's bombardment on Monday night targeted a drug rehabilitation center in the Afghan capital, resulting in at least 400 deaths. He said that 250 others were injured.
In a post on X, Fitrat said that the strike destroyed large sections of the hospital, and rescue teams were trying to recover the bodies from the rubble.
Citing health officials at the hospital, TOLOnews reported that more than 50 bodies are still believed to be trapped under the debris as rescue operations continue.
The airstrike destroyed five blocks of the rehabilitation compound, where up to 3,000 patients were receiving treatment, it said.
Deputy Interior Minister Muhammad Nabi Omari, who visited the site, said that Pakistan "has undertaken a project to kill Afghans."
Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Afghan government, said that his country will respond forcefully to Pakistan's aggression.
Tarar, however, claimed that Pakistan "precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure," including technical equipment storage and ammunition storage of Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij in Kabul and Nangarhar that were being used against innocent Pakistani civilians.
Fitna al-Khawarij is a term used by the state to refer to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
He said that false claims made by the Taliban regime's propagandists cannot fool the Afghans and the world from their heinous actions of supporting and sponsoring terrorism in the region.
According to data shared by Tarar, 684 Afghan Taliban operatives have been killed and another 912 injured so far.
He said that 252 posts had been destroyed, while 44 were captured and then destroyed. He added that 229 tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery guns of the Taliban regime had been destroyed.
Nearly 73 "terrorists and their support infrastructure locations across Afghanistan have been effectively targeted," he added.
In a statement, Pakistan's information ministry said that the post-strike detonation of stored ammunition being used by the master terror proxy fully contradicts the Afghan Taliban's claim.
The ministry also rejected the Taliban statement that Pakistan strikes hit civilians, adding that Pakistan's targeting is "precise and carefully undertaken" to ensure no collateral damage is inflicted.
"This misreporting of facts as a drug rehabilitation facility seeks to stir sentiments, covering illegitimate support to cross-border terrorism," the ministry said.
A fact check posted by the ministry on X claimed that Omid Hospital, which the Afghan Taliban claimed had been hit, was "actually multiple kilometres away from Camp Phoenix, the military terrorist ammunition and equipment storage site, which was precisely targeted last night," Dawn reported.
Separately, security sources said that in the Afghan province of Nangarhar, Pakistani forces targeted the Afghan Taliban's military installations at four locations. Logistics, ammunition, and technical infrastructure adjacent to these installations were also destroyed, the sources added.
They further said a drone assembly workshop, "where drones were sent," and weapon stocks were also destroyed in Nangarhar and Kabul.
According to the sources, drones were prepared at those workshops using parts made in Israel.
Six targets had been successfully targeted in Kabul and Nangarhar, they said, adding that there were also reports of several terrorists having been killed.
Earlier, the armed forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Kurram sector targeted and destroyed important Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij hideouts, security sources said.
"During these operations, several khawarij were killed while the rest managed to escape," a security source said.
The armed forces also destroyed Afghan Taliban posts across the Pak-Afghan border in KP's Bajaur sector, security sources said, adding that the forces targeted Afghan Taliban posts with "guided missiles."