The Taliban say a Pakistani military airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul killed more than 400 people and wounded about 250. Taliban officials said the attack hit the Omid (Hope) rehabilitation center, a large 2,000‑bed facility in Police District 9, at around 9 p.m. Monday. Hamdullah Firtat, a Taliban spokesman, posted that “large parts of the hospital have been destroyed” and that rescuers were still removing bodies from the rubble.
Sharafat Zaman, a spokesman for the Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health, told CBS News the death toll could rise as search-and-rescue operations continue. Videos shared with CBS show the hospital burning while firefighters and rescue teams carry dead and injured on stretchers. A nearby hospital worker, Muhammad Ashraf, said he heard several gunshots followed by two loud explosions.
Pakistan rejected the Taliban’s accusation, calling the claims false and asserting that visible secondary detonations after the strikes indicate large ammunition depots were hit. Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on social media that its armed forces conducted “precision airstrikes” on March 16 targeting Afghan Taliban military installations in Kabul and Nangarhar and that technical infrastructure and ammunition storage facilities at two Kabul locations were destroyed. CBS said the videos it reviewed did not appear to show secondary explosions or gunfire after the initial blasts.
Omid is housed in a former NATO camp and treats thousands of largely young Afghans battling addiction, a major social problem in the country. The strikes come amid weeks of intense cross-border attacks that began in late February, with Pakistan saying it is in an “open war” with Afghanistan and targeting groups it calls terrorists. Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of violating its sovereignty; the Taliban have replied with drone strikes on Pakistani cities.
Last week, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported at least four civilians killed and 14 injured in a Kabul airstrike. A Qatar-brokered ceasefire collapsed in February. China said its special envoy has been shuttling between Kabul and Islamabad to mediate and urged an immediate ceasefire, calling for direct talks to resolve differences. Pakistan has blamed armed groups such as Tehrik‑e‑Taliban Pakistan for attacking its territory from Afghanistan; the Taliban deny harboring TTP and say the group is Pakistan’s internal issue.