What happened
Afghanistan’s interior ministry said on Tuesday, 17 March 2026, that a Pakistani air strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul had killed 408 people and injured 265, as families gathered at the site to look for relatives missing since the attack the previous night.
Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani gave the figures, while the Taliban government’s deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, had said earlier that large parts of the 2,000-bed Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital were destroyed. Health authorities said about 3,000 patients from across Afghanistan were at the facility when it was hit at about 9pm local time (16:30 GMT) on Monday, shortly after residents of the capital had broken their daily Ramadan fast.
Witnesses told the news agencies Reuters and AFP that they heard three explosions as people finished evening prayers and that two of the bombs struck rooms and patient areas. “The whole place caught fire. It was like doomsday,” Ahmad, a 50-year-old patient, told Reuters. An ambulance driver, Haji Fahim, said he found everything burning when he arrived and was called back in the morning because bodies were still under the rubble.
Families and the UN response
Baryalai Amiri, a 38-year-old mechanic, was at the clinic on Tuesday looking for his brother, who had been admitted about 25 days earlier. “We are not given the proper information,” he told AFP. “So far, we don’t know where he is.”
The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said he was “dismayed” by the reports and urged the parties to de-escalate and respect the protection of civilians and civilian objects such as hospitals. The UN human rights office spokesman, Thameen Al-Kheetan, called for an independent investigation and said those responsible should be held to account and that victims and their families were entitled to reparations.
Pakistan’s position
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting rejected the account, saying its forces had carried out precision strikes on “military installations and terrorist support infrastructure” in Kabul and Nangarhar and that no hospital or civilian facility was targeted. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the strikes on the night of 16 March hit ammunition and technical-support sites, and that secondary explosions indicated large ammunition depots. Islamabad described the hospital allegation as false and aimed at misleading public opinion.
The accounts could not be independently verified from the reporting available on the day.
Why it matters
The strike is the deadliest single episode reported in the fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which began in late February 2026 and has become the worst conflict between the two neighbours in years. The competing claims over what was hit in Kabul, and the gap between the two sides’ accounts, underscore how little agreed information is available as the war continues, while the UN’s call for an independent inquiry adds international pressure for accountability.
What remains uncertain
The final death toll, the exact nature of the site that was struck and whether any independent investigation will be permitted remain unresolved. Both sides have continued to trade accusations since the attack, and there has been no indication that the fighting will stop.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published reporting, not eyewitness reconstruction. Sources were reviewed on 17 March 2026.
- Al Jazeera — "Families search for loved ones after deadly Pakistan strike on Kabul rehab"Published 17 March 2026 · The casualty figures, witness and family accounts, Pakistan's denial and the UN calls for an investigation.
- BBC News — "Pakistan air strike kills at least 100 at Kabul drug rehab centre"Published 17 March 2026 · The 2,000-bed facility, the site's history as a former US base turned rehabilitation centre, and UNAMA's condemnation of the strike.
