Afghans hold mass funeral for airstrike victims
Dozens of people were buried in a Kabul cemetery on Thursday in the second mass funeral of victims killed in an airstrike that hit a drug rehabilitation center in the Afghan capital earlier this month.
Bulldozers opened a large pit into which individual graves were dug for the 60 coffins. Afghan officials have said hundreds of people were killed when a Pakistani airstrike hit the 2,000-bed Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital on March 16.
The UN humanitarian affairs office has said the total death toll is still under verification. Pakistan has denied targeting civilians, saying it struck an ammunition depot.
The strike came amid escalating fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan that began in February and has seen repeated cross-border clashes as well as airstrikes inside Afghanistan, including several in Kabul. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of providing a safe haven for militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, especially for the Pakistani Taliban.
The group is separate but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 during the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops. Kabul denies the charge.
Pakistan declared last month that it is in “open war” with Afghanistan. The conflict has alarmed the international community, particularly as the area is one where other militant organizations, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, still have a presence and have been trying to resurface.
The two sides declared a temporary truce last week ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, following mediation by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.
The truce expired this week, and renewed fighting erupted on Wednesday, with Afghan officials saying at least two civilians had been killed in eastern Afghanistan and others had been wounded.
