Over 400 killed in Afghanistan after Pakistani airstrike at Kabul hospital

The alleged attack came hours after Afghan officials said the two sides exchanged fire along their common border, killing four people in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan on Monday said more than 400 people were killed and over 250 injured after the Pakistan military carried out an airstrike targeting a Kabul hospital that treats drug addicts, Afghan officials said on Tuesday.

This photograph shows smoke and flames rising from an area hit by airstrikes, in Kabul on March 16, 2026. (AFP)

The alleged attack came hours after Afghan officials said the two sides exchanged fire along their common border, killing four people in Afghanistan, as the fighting between the neighbors entered a third week.

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Though Taliban officials earlier said that 200 people were killed in the strike, the toll was later revised to 400. Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the death toll from the airstrike had increased to 400. He added that another 250 people were reported injured.

In a social media post, Fitrat said the strike had destroyed large sections of the hospital, which treated drug addicts. He said rescue teams were trying to control the fire at the building and recover the bodies of the victims.

Pakistan had earlier denied that it had hit a hospital, saying its strike in Kabul and other strikes in eastern Afghanistan Monday had not hit any civilian sites.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's spokesman, Mosharraf Zaidi, dismissed the allegations as baseless, saying no hospital was targeted in Kabul.

In a post on X, Pakistan's Ministry of Information said the strikes “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure including technical equipment storage and ammunition storage of Afghan Taliban.”