Hundreds dead in Pakistan airstrike on Kabul hospital
The Taliban government in Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of carrying out an airstrike on a Kabul drug rehabilitation centre on Monday, alleging mass civilian casualties.
Taliban officials said at least 400 people were killed and around 250 injured when Pakistan Air Force jets struck the state-run Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital at about 9 pm on March 16. The 2,000-bed facility-at a site formerly known as Camp Phoenix, a NATO training base converted into a rehab centre a decade ago-was largely destroyed.
Hamdullah Fitrat, Taliban deputy government spokesperson, said on X that rescue teams were still battling fires and recovering bodies, warning the toll could rise.
Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qanie and Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed figures of up to 408 dead and 265 injured, describing the victims as civilians and patients. Mujahid condemned the attack as "targeting hospitals and civilian sites to perpetrate horrors" and called it "a crime against humanity."
Survivors described scenes of devastation. A 50-year-old patient, Ahmad, said: "The whole place caught fire. It was like doomsday. My friends were burning in the fire, and we could not save them all." Local media and aid groups reported "hundreds of civilians dead and injured," with bodies carried out by Red Crescent volunteers and security forces.
Pakistan rejected the allegations as "false and misleading," insisting the strikes targeted militant infrastructure, including TTP ammunition depots. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said "visible secondary detonations" confirmed stockpiles, with no hospital or civilian targets hit.
India condemned the strike as reprehensible, especially during Ramadan, and called for restraint, while China urged both sides to de-escalate, return to negotiations, and ensure the safety of regional interests.
The incident escalates clashes that intensified in late February. Pakistan accuses the Taliban of harbouring TTP militants, a charge Kabul denies. The UN and aid agencies expressed alarm over civilian casualties, urging independent verification and adherence to international humanitarian law.
