Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed a five-day ceasefire for Eid al-Fitr as Kabul held a mass funeral for people killed in an alleged Pakistani airstrike at a drug rehabilitation hospital.
The truce for the Muslim festival of Eid, which will be celebrated over the weekend to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, has been brokered by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.
Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday that the pause in airstrikes on Afghanistan was set to end on Tuesday.
But he warned that operations would resume “in case of any cross-border attack, drone attack or any terrorist incident inside Pakistan”.
“Pakistan offers this gesture in good faith and in keeping with the Islamic norms,” Mr Tarar said in a statement.
Afghanistan government spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid confirmed the ceasefire but did not specify a timeframe for the pause on the Afghan side.
He also warned that his country “will respond courageously to any aggression in the event of a threat”.
The Afghan government earlier alleged the Pakistani strike on Monday had killed 408 people and injured 265. The United Nations put the death toll at 143.
Pakistan denied attacking a drug rehabilitation centre and insisted that it had “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure”.
The alleged airstrike on the 2,000-bed Omid hospital, where many patients were preparing to sleep or praying, marked the deadliest attack in over three weeks of fighting between the neighbours.
Afghan authorities held a mass funeral for some of the victims on Wednesday, bringing in excavators to dig graves.
Light rain fell as coffins were carried from ambulances by Afghan Red Crescent Society volunteers. Hundreds of Afghans, including family members of the victims, gathered to pay their final respects.
“Some bodies have been handed over after their identities were confirmed. However, a large number of bodies still remain with us,” Najibullah Farooqi, head of the legal medicine directorate, said.
Health ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said that the remains of more than 50 victims couldn’t be identified and that some of the coffins contained the remains of more than one person.
“We came here looking for our patient, he is missing,” Mazar, 50, who gave only one name, told Reuters. “We came to find out whether he is well, alive, or what has happened to him.”
He said his relative was admitted at the rehab centre for the second time and they were not able to find him after the strike.
“We checked the lists, but his name was not in the list of the living. Maybe he is injured or has been killed,” he said.
Another man who was not named said they were not allowed to enter the centre, now a mound of debris, and they had no information about their relative.
“We did not find his body, nor was he among the wounded, and his name is not on the list of survivors,” he said. “We have come again today for more information.”
Afghan interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, attending the mass funeral, said these were innocent victims targeted by “criminals”.
“We will take revenge,” he said. “We are not weak and helpless. You’ll see the consequences of your crimes.”
He added that Afghanistan did not want escalation and was “trying to solve the problems through diplomacy”.
The Norwegian Refugee Council, which deployed teams on the ground, said Pakistani airstrikes had killed hundreds of people.
The European Union and UN agencies condemned strikes on civilian and medical facilities and called for the immediate cessation of hostilities.
A joint statement of aid groups said 115,000 civilians had reportedly been displaced, including many children, since the outbreak of hostilities between the two neighbours.
