Afghan mourners and relatives carry the body of a victim killed during overnight Pakistani shelling in the Gurbuz district of Khost province, March 16, 2026. - / AFP
The Afghan government said on Tuesday, March 17, that about 400 people were killed in a Pakistani air strike on a drug rehabilitation center in the capital, Kabul, in the deadliest attack in the recent violence between the two neighbors. Hundreds more were said to have been wounded at the facility, which was hit on 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 Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporters saw at least 30 bodies taken from the site in the chaotic and smoldering aftermath of the attack on Monday night. They then saw more than 65 removed on Tuesday as rescuers picked through the rubble in the search 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, calling the strike "against the Geneva Convention and all international laws." Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani gave a toll of "408 killed and 265 wounded" at the same briefing.
