Kabul, March 24 – In a heartbreaking scene, several Afghan families searched for their loved ones on Eid in Afghanistan after a Pakistani airstrike on a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul on March 16 claimed the lives of over 400 people, according to a report. The Pakistani attack, which it termed as targeting "military and terrorist infrastructure" in Afghanistan, appears to have gone disastrously wrong, as a rehabilitation center for drug addicts was the target, resulting in a massive tragedy.
On Eid, Sohrab Faqiri was searching for the grave of his brother, who was killed in a Pakistani airstrike in Kabul. Faqiri's brother, Qais, a tailor and father of a 10-year-old boy, had been receiving treatment at the facility for the past three months, according to The Guardian, the UK's leading daily.
Faqiri arrived at the site of the incident after the strike, but he was unable to find his brother among the survivors. For the next two days, Faqiri visited hospitals in Kabul, but he could not find any information about his brother. He then spotted his brother in a video of the authorities burying the bodies of the victims.
Faqiri went to the hillside graveyard on the outskirts of Kabul, where the burial took place. Faqiri said he found rows of stones planted along lines of upturned earth. However, there were no names to identify any of the bodies of the victims. He said, "The worst part is that we don't even know where his grave is," Faqiri said at the cemetery, becoming emotional.
The Pakistani attack on the rehabilitation center took place just as patients were returning to their dormitories after attending special prayers at night during Ramadan.
Wali Nazir Mohammad (23) went to his bed after prayers in one of the smaller buildings, which housed about 20 patients in a single room. When he woke up after the explosion, some of his fellow patients and the room were on fire. Many in the room had died, while others were calling for help.
Mohammad said that the room was not directly hit, but shrapnel came through the walls, cutting him. Wali Nazir Mohammad, who was being treated in the hospital, said, "I have a message for our government: please take our revenge." "If the government cannot take our revenge, I ask them to give us weapons," The Guardian quoted him as saying.
Abdul Matin Qane, spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior in Afghanistan, had warned on March 17 that the country would give a "teeth-breaking response" to the airstrikes carried out by Pakistan in Kabul.
Qane said that Afghanistan considers Pakistan's latest strike as a major escalation and warned of a response. He said, "Such attacks cannot go unanswered," reiterating that Afghan authorities consider the incident a violation of Afghanistan's sovereignty, according to Ariana News.
The incident marked a sharp escalation in tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent weeks due to airstrikes, artillery fire, and accusations from both sides.