Kabul, Mar 17 (KNS): Afghanistan on Tuesday accused Pakistan of carrying out an airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul that killed at least 400 people, marking a major escalation in tensions between the neighbouring countries. Pakistan denied the allegation, saying its military strikes targeted militant infrastructure and not civilian sites.
Afghan Deputy Government Spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the airstrike struck the hospital late Monday night, destroying large parts of the 2,000-bed facility. In a post on X, he said the death toll had reached 400 so far and around 250 people were injured.
Local television footage circulating on social media showed security personnel using flashlights to search through the rubble as firefighters attempted to contain flames inside the damaged building. Afghan officials said rescue teams were continuing efforts to retrieve bodies from the debris.
Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strike, accusing Pakistan of targeting civilian infrastructure. He said many of those killed or injured were patients receiving treatment at the hospital.
Pakistan rejected the accusation. A spokesman for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described the claim as baseless and said no hospital was targeted in Kabul.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information said the strikes were aimed at “military installations and terrorist support infrastructure,” including equipment storage and ammunition depots allegedly used by Afghan Taliban and Pakistani militant groups.
The ministry said the operations were carried out carefully to avoid civilian casualties and called the Afghan claims “false and misleading.”
The incident came hours after reports of cross-border exchanges of fire along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border that left at least four people dead in Afghanistan.
The latest escalation follows weeks of clashes between the two countries, which have accused each other of harbouring militant groups responsible for attacks across the border. The conflict has raised concern internationally as militant organisations, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, remain active in the region.(KNS).