Afghan govt says “around 400” killed in Pakistani strike on Kabul rehab centre

• Afghan officials report at least 408 people were killed and 265 wounded after a Pakistani airstrike flattened a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul, marking the deadliest single incident in recent border violence.
• While the Taliban government condemned the "deliberate targeting" of a medical facility, Pakistan dismissed the claims as "entirely baseless," asserting that the strikes only hit military and terrorist infrastructure used for cross-border attacks.

The Afghan government said on Tuesday that about 400 people were killed in a Pakistani air strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in the capital, Kabul, in the deadliest attack in the recent violence between the two neighbours.

Hundreds more were said to have been wounded at the facility, which was hit Monday night, flattening buildings used to treat people from across the country for addictions to marijuana, amphetamines and other narcotics.

There was no immediate independent verification of the toll, but AFP reporters saw at least 30 bodies taken from the site in the chaotic and smouldering aftermath of the attack on Monday night.

They then saw more than 65 removed on Tuesday as rescuers picked through the rubble searching for victims and survivors.

"The toll is not final as the rescue operation is still going on, but we have around 400 martyrs and more than 200 wounded," said health ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman.

Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani gave a toll of "408 killed and 265 wounded" at the same briefing.

Afghan authorities have asked families of those killed to accept their relatives being buried in a mass grave.

In Geneva, UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan called for a swift, independent investigation into the strike, with those responsible "held to account in line with international standards".

But Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Taliban government claims that Pakistan deliberately targeted the clinic were "entirely baseless".

"No hospital, no drug rehabilitation centre, and no civilian facility was targeted," he wrote on X.

"The targets were military and terrorist infrastructure, including ammunition and technical equipment storage sites and other installations linked to hostile activity against Pakistan."

Late Tuesday, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said that Afghanistan does not want war but would continue "proportionate and legitimate defensive measures until the other side ceases its violations".

The two sides have been in conflict for months, with Islamabad accusing its neighbour of harbouring extremists who have mounted deadly cross-border attacks on its territory.