Overview
- UNAMA, which released its quarterly report Tuesday, said 372 civilians were killed and 397 injured inside Afghanistan from January to March in violence linked to clashes with Pakistani forces, based on checks with three independent sources.
- Airstrikes caused 64% of casualties, with a March 16 strike on a Kabul drug treatment hospital killing at least 269 people and wounding 122, according to the report.
- The mission said the true hospital toll may be higher because many bodies were unrecognisable, and it urged both sides to stop hitting health facilities and asked Afghan authorities to record the missing.
- Pakistan rejected that it targeted any hospital or civilian site and said its actions focused on terrorist and military infrastructure, while also reporting 130 Pakistani deaths since January.
- Following early April talks in China to avoid escalation, incident levels fell but continued, with Afghan officials reporting seven killed and 85 wounded in April 27 shelling that struck a university in Kunar province.