Afghanistan claims Pakistani strike on treatment center killed 250

Afghanistan claimed that at least 250 people were killed and more than 400 others injured when a Pakistani airstrike hit a treatment center in Kabul. Pakistan denied striking a civilian site and said it targeted militant infrastructure.

The strike happened overnight into Monday in Kabul’s 9th police district, according to TOLOnews, one of Afghanistan’s main broadcasters. The outlet said rescue operations were still underway at the facility.

Earlier reporting from the scene described it as an addiction treatment hospital, and video showed a sign identifying the site as a drug rehabilitation center.

Footage posted by Afghan media showed heavy damage at the facility and a fire still burning. TOLO also published video it said showed fragments of a bomb dropped by Pakistani military jets.

Pakistan rejected the Afghan account in a statement from its information ministry. The ministry said reports of civilian casualties were false and that Pakistani forces struck military installations and what it described as terrorist infrastructure in Kabul and Nangarhar.

The ministry said the operation was carried out with precision to avoid unnecessary damage. It also said strong secondary explosions indicated the presence of weapons and explosives, which it said showed the site was not an ordinary civilian location.

The reported casualty toll has not been independently verified. TOLO said the figures were initial numbers and that rescue work was continuing.

The strike is the latest in the fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan that began in late February after Pakistani airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan. Since then, the conflict has widened to include artillery fire, drone incidents and cross-border clashes.