India has condemned the alleged Pakistani airstrike on a hospital in Afghanistan that killed at least 400 on Monday.
Islamabad has denied that it attacked the hospital, saying it only targeted military installations in Kabul and the Nangahar province.
The attack on Kabul’s 2,000-bed Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital took place at around 9 pm local time, Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government, said in a post on X.
“India unequivocally condemns Pakistan’s barbaric airstrike on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul on the night of March 16,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“This is a cowardly and unconscionable act of violence that has claimed the lives of a large number of civilians in a facility which can by no means be justified as a military target.”
The ministry added: “Pakistan is now trying to dress up a massacre as a military operation.” New Delhi also said the “heinous act of aggression” is a “blatant assault on Afghanistan’s sovereignty” and a direct “threat to regional peace and stability.”
The ministry said the attack was carried out during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, making it “all the more reprehensible.”
Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of sheltering armed groups that conduct cross-border raids and terrorist attacks, including the bombing of a mosque in Islamabad in February that killed more than 30 people. The Taliban has denied that it provides aid to militants who attack Pakistan.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fighting for weeks after Islamabad declared an “open war” in February. Pakistan has struck military and other facilities deep inside Afghanistan, including the capital, Kabul.
The strain in relations is also attributed to Kabul’s increasing engagement with Pakistan’s longtime rival, India.