Pakistan military struck the Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul, the Afghan around 9pm local time, Monday

The strike on the 2,000-bed hospital destroyed large sections of the building, killed 408 people with 250 injured Afghani govt. claims

This is the latest wave of violence between the two countries that began late February, with repeated cross-border clashes and Pakistan’s air strikes inside Afghanistan

Pakistan often accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban govt of providing safe haven to the Pakistan Taliban, also known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan

As well as providing safe haven for outlawed Baloch separatist groups and other groups who frequently target security forces and civilians across Pakistan

Afghan govt who deny those claims accused the Pakistani military of intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure to “perpetrate horrors,” which Pakistan denies

Wednesday, the UN revised Kabul rehab strike toll down to 143, and urged deescalation by the warring parties

Kabul’s Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital was flattened by an air strike about 9pm local time on Monday night. Afghanistan’s Taliban administration claim the rehab facility was bombed by neighbors Pakistan

On Monday, Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government, said Pakistan’s military struck Kabul’s Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital at about 9pm local time.
The hospital is a 2,000-bed facility, and the raid destroyed large sections of the building, he wrote on X.
“Unfortunately, the death toll has so far reached 400, while around 250 others have been reported injured. Rescue teams are currently at the scene, working to control the fire and recover the remaining bodies of the victims,” Fitrat added.
Pakistan often accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of providing safe haven to the Pakistan Taliban, also known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, as well as to outlawed Baloch separatist groups and other groups who frequently target security forces and civilians across Pakistan.
Kabul denies these claims.

Residents and volunteers inspect the site of an air strike at the substance abuse rehabilitation center in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday March 17

Conflicting reports have put the number of those killed at 408 and 143. The estimated number of injured survivors is 250

The latest wave of violence between the two countries began late last month, with repeated cross-border clashes and Pakistan’s air strikes inside Afghanistan.
All of the dead and injured were civilians, patients receiving treatment at the facility.
In a series of posts on X, Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid denounced the assault as a “crime against humanity”. He accused the Pakistani military of intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure to “perpetrate horrors.”
As the accusations and counters fly between the warring nations, the United Nations Monday released a report stating that their own resources recorded 143 deaths in an air strike on a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul, significantly lower than the figure offered by Afghanistan’s Taliban government.

Survivors of the attack of the alleged air strike on by Pakistan on Kabul’s Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital on Monday night had to be taken to other hospitals

The attack on Kabul’s Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital on Monday night has sharpened a bitter dispute between Pakistan and Afghanistan with the Taliban putting the casualties at more than 400 people killed and about 265 wounded.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan provided its figure to the Reuters news agency on Wednesday.
The gap between the two counts underscores the difficulty of verifying casualty figures in the conflict as competing claims frequently come from Kabul and Islamabad.
The latest wave of violence between the two countries began late last month. Afghanistan’s Taliban government has blamed Pakistan for the attack on the drug rehabilitation center, just as Pakistan denies the airstrike was conducted by it’s Airforce.

First responders load a dead body onto an ambulance after air raids allegedly conducted by Pakistan’s Airforce destroyed a substance abuse treatment and rehab hospital in Kabul on Monday night

With anti-aircraft batteries near the hospital firing at the marauding bomber, the jet dropped it’s load of bombs and a fire broke out at the facility, according to the reports. Witnesses report hearing three explosions just as people in the hospital were completing evening prayers on Monday night with two of the bombs hitting rooms and patient areas.
“The whole place caught fire,” one rehab patient said, comparing the scene to doomsday.
His “friends were burning in the fire, and we could not save them all,” he added.
First responders said twenty four later they were still finding bodies beneath the rubble.
The clinic was established in 2016 and has treated hundreds of people with substance abuse issues. The center also provides vocational training for the recovering persons, to assist their reintegration as contributing members in society.
Hamdullah Fitrat, a deputy spokesman for the Taliban administration, said the strike hit the hospital, a 2,000-bed facility, destroying large sections of the building and triggering fires that rescue teams worked through the night to contain.

Families search for relatives present in Kabul’s addiction rehab hospital when it was hit on Monday

Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid accused Pakistan of deliberately hitting civilian infrastructure and called the assault a “crime against humanity”.
Those killed and wounded were patients undergoing addiction treatment at the time of the strike, Mujahid said.
Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, denied the allegation in an interview.
“We strongly refute and reject these allegations,” he said on Tuesday, insisting his country “only targeted terrorist infrastructure and military locations”.
Islamabad has denied the accusations of Afghanistan’s Taliban government that Pakistani forces hit a hospital treating drug users in the Afghan capital, Kabul, insisting that Pakistan’s military strikes on their neighbors have avoided civilian sites.
Speaking on Tuesday, Pakistani Minister of Information Attaullah Tarar maintained that “Pakistan has only targeted terrorist infrastructure and military locations.”

The air strike hit the hospital while patients at dinner breaking their Ramadan fast. In the light of day, Tuesday, rescue teams were at the scene searching for bodies and survivors

“The whole place caught fire,” one rehab patient said, after the bombs dropped on the hospital Monday night. Firefighters battled for hours to contain the blaze

The strike is the latest in a widening confrontation between the two neighbors, who have engaged in repeated cross-border clashes. Pakistan has also carried out air raids inside Afghanistan.
At the heart of the dispute is a long-running Pakistani accusation that the Taliban government shelters the Pakistan Taliban, known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, as well as outlawed Baloch separatist groups responsible for attacks on Pakistani soil.
Kabul has consistently denied providing sanctuary to the groups.
Wring on X, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, expressed his dismay at reports of the air raids and civilian casualties. Bennett urged the warring “parties to de-escalate, exercise maximum restraint & respect international law, including the protection of civilians and civilian objects such as hospitals.”
The UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan has called for an independent investigation into the strike.