Pakistani strike hits rehab hospital in Afghanistan, Taliban says

The Taliban successful Afghanistan assertion that a Pakistani subject airstrike connected a cause rehabilitation infirmary successful Kabul has killed implicit 400 radical and injured 250 others.

The onslaught occurred astir 9 p.m. connected Monday astatine a installation located successful Kabul's Police District 9, according to Taliban officials.

"The Pakistani subject authorities bombed a 2,000-bed cause rehabilitation infirmary called 'Omid.' Large parts of the infirmary person been destroyed," said Hamdullah Firtat, a Taliban spokesman, connected X.

"Unfortunately, the fig of martyrs (dead) has truthful acold reached 400 people, and up to 250 others person been injured."

Sharafat Zaman, a spokesperson for the Taliban's Ministry of Public Health, told CBS News that the decease toll mightiness summation arsenic rescuers are inactive pulling dormant bodies from the rubble.

Taliban information unit transportation a assemblage astatine the tract of a damaged gathering aft an airstrike deed the Secondary Rehabilitation Services Centre successful Kabul connected March 16, 2026. Wakil KOHSAR /AFP via Getty Images

Videos shared with CBS News by the Taliban amusement the infirmary successful flames arsenic firefighters and rescue teams effort to extinguish the blazes and transportation the dormant and injured successful stretchers.

Muhammad Ashraf, who was moving successful a adjacent hospital, told CBS News that helium heard respective gunshots followed by 2 large explosions.

Pakistan denied the Taliban's accusation that it deed a aesculapian installation arsenic "false claims," saying, "visible secondary detonations aft the strikes intelligibly bespeak the beingness of ample ammunition depots," and that it was carrying retired "precision airstrikes" targeting the Afghan Taliban's subject installations successful Kabul and Nangarhar provinces.

"Pakistan's Armed Forces successfully carried retired precision airstrikes connected the nighttime of 16 March…targeting Afghan Taliban authorities coercion sponsoring subject installations successful Kabul and Nangarhar." Attaullah Tarar, Pakistan's Minister of Information and Broadcasting, said successful a station connected societal media.

"Technical enactment infrastructure and ammunition retention facilities astatine 2 locations successful Kabul were efficaciously destroyed," helium said.  

The videos shared with CBS News did not look to amusement secondary explosions oregon gunfire pursuing the archetypal blast.

The Omid hospital, which translates to "Hope," is simply a immense rehabilitation halfway for addicts located successful a erstwhile NATO camp. Thousands of mostly young Afghans battling addiction, which is 1 of the country's worst societal crises, are brought to the halfway for treatment.

Afghan firefighters and Taliban information unit enactment to extinguish fires aft an airstrike deed the Secondary Rehabilitation Services Centre successful Kabul connected March 16, 2026. Wakil KOHSAR /AFP via Getty Images

The attacks travel aft weeks of aggravated cross-border attacks betwixt Afghanistan and Pakistan that started successful precocious February. Pakistan has said it is successful an "open war" with Afghanistan and targeting panic groups.

The tensions escalated to the constituent that Pakistani jets person carried retired strikes successful Kabul and different parts of the country. Afghanistan said that Islamabad was violating its sovereignty, and successful response, the Taliban struck Pakistani cities with drones.

Last week, the United Nations Assistance Mission successful Afghanistan said astatine slightest 4 civilians were killed, and 14 were injured pursuing an airstrike successful Kabul.

An earlier ceasefire brokered by Qatar broke down successful February. On Monday, China said its peculiar envoy has been shuttling betwixt Kabul and Islamabad to mediate betwixt the 2 sides and urged an contiguous ceasefire.

"China hopes Afghanistan and Pakistan volition stay calm and workout restraint, prosecute look to look ASAP, execute a ceasefire astatine the earliest opportunity, and resoluteness differences and disputes done dialogue. China volition proceed to facilitate reconciliation and easiness tensions." China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said successful a tweet.

Pakistan claimed that equipped groups, specified arsenic Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, oregon TTP, are attacking Pakistan's territory from Afghanistan, wherever they person been fixed harmless haven. Afghanistan denies the Pakistani accusation and says TTP is an interior contented of Pakistan that is not applicable to the Taliban.