Afghanistan says 400 killed in strike by Pakistan on Kabul hospital

Deputy government spokesman says death toll has reached 400 people ‘so far’ as Islamabad denies targeting facility for drug addicts Hundreds were feared dead after a strike on a hospital treating drug users in the Afghan capital of Kabul, which officials from Afghanistan blamed on the Pakistani military. Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said the death toll had “so far” reached 400 people, while about 250 people had been reported injured. He said most of those killed and wounded were patients undergoing treatment at the facility. Pakistan rejected the claim as false and misleading and said it “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure” on Monday night, dismissing allegations it had hit a civilian target. Sharafat Zaman, the Taliban’s health ministry spokesperson, said there were about 3,000 patients in the state-run Omid hospital at the time of the strike. Local television stations posted footage of firefighters struggling to extinguish flames among the ruins of a building. “The whole place caught fire. It was like doomsday,” said Ahmad, 50, a security guard at the hospital. Of the 25 people staying in the hospital’s