Afghanistan

Rescue teams recover bodies after Kabul hospital airstrike tragedy

A survivor is treated in an ambulance at the site of a late-Monday air strike at a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan. [Siddiqullah Alizai/AP Photo]

Taliban rescue team member Allah Mohammad Farooq inspects the site of a airstrike at a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul. [Siddiqullah Alizai/AP Photo]

The attack on Kabul’s Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital took place at about 9pm local time (16:30 GMT) on Monday. [Siddiqullah Alizai/AP Photo]

Afghanistan and Pakistan have been in conflict for months, with Islamabad accusing its neighbour of harbouring armed groups that have mounted deadly cross-border attacks. [Siddiqullah Alizai/AP Photo]

The latest round of violence that began last month⁠, two days before the world’s focus shifted sharply to the US-Israel war on Iran, is the worst ever between the neighbours. [Siddiqullah Alizai/AP Photo]

The two nations share a 2,600km (1,600-mile) border. The conflict had ebbed amid attempts by friendly countries, including China, to mediate and end the fighting before flaring up again. [Siddiqullah Alizai/AP Photo]

Pakistan denied Afghan claims that its latest attack targeted civilians, instead insisting that it carried out precision strikes on “military installations and terrorist support infrastructure”. [Siddiqullah Alizai/AP Photo]

The health authorities said there were about 3,000 patients from across Afghanistan at the clinic at the time of the attack, which triggered panic in Kabul just after residents had broken their daily Ramadan fast. [Siddiqullah Alizai/AP Photo]

A spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior Affairs said on Tuesday that the attack killed 408 people and injured 265. [Siddiqullah Alizai/AP Photo]

Witnesses said they heard three explosions just as people in the hospital were completing evening prayers. Two of the bombs struck rooms and patient areas, they said. [Siddiqullah Alizai/AP Photo]