400 killed in Pakistani strike on Kabul hospital: Taliban

The Taliban government said at least 400 people were killed in a Pakistani airstrike on a drug treatment facility in Kabul. Pakistan denied the accusation, saying its armed forces struck military installations.

Afghanistan accused Pakistan of carrying out an airstrike that killed at least 400 people at a drug treatment hospital in Kabul late Monday.

Afghan officials said the strike hit the 2,000-bed rehabilitation facility at around 9 p.m. local time (1630 GMT), causing extensive damage and leaving hundreds wounded, in a major escalation of the weekslong cross-border fighting between the neighbors.

The deputy spokesperson for the Taliban government, Hamdullah Fitrat, posted on X that the airstrike on the hospital killed at least 400 people, with hundreds more injured.

"Rescue teams are currently at the scene working to control the fire and recover the remaining bodies of the victims," Fitrat said.

Pakistan denies targeting hospital in Kabul

Pakistan denied targeting civilian infrastructure, saying its armed forces carried out "precision airstrikes" that aimed at "military installations and terrorist support infrastructure" in Kabul and eastern Nangarhar province. That is according to Attaullah Tarar, the country's information minister.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's spokesperson, Mosharraf Zaidi, also rejected the allegation, saying no hospital had been targeted in Kabul.

Over the weekend too, both sides traded blame. Pakistan claimed to have struck a "technical support infrastructure" in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar Province, while Taliban authorities said the attack hit a drug treatment facility and a fuel depot belonging to a private airline.

Meanwhile, the AFP news agency reported that its journalists at the scene counted at least 30 bodies as the wounded were taken to hospitals.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have repeatedly clashed over last weeks

The attack came amid renewed and intensifying hostilities between the two neighbors over the past three weeks, which Pakistan has described as an "open war."

The United Nations Security Council on Monday urged Afghanistan's Taliban authorities to step up efforts to combat terrorism.

After months of escalating tensions and intense cross-border clashes, Pakistan declared open war on neighboring Afghanistan on February 27, accusing the Taliban of sheltering militant groups that plan attacks inside Pakistan, a claim Pakistan has denied.

"Our patience has run out," Pakistan's defense minister, Khawaja Asif, said at the time.

The Taliban government has denied any involvement or support for militant groups from its territory.

Edited by: Roshni Majumdar