Residents and volunteers inspect the site of a late-Monday airstrike at a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)2026-03-17T07:13:06Z KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Rescue crews were still digging bodies out of the rubble of a drug rehabilitation hospital in the Afghan capital Tuesday morning, after officials there said an overnight Pakistani airstrike killed at least 400 people at the facility.Pakistan has denied Afghanistans accusation that it targeted a hospital, saying its strikes, which were also conducted in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, did not hit any civilian sites.The strikes late Monday night mark a dramatic escalation of a conflict that began between Afghanistan and Pakistan late last month and has seen repeated cross-border clashes as well as airstrikes inside Afghanistan. International calls for a ceasefire have gone unheeded.In a late-night post on X, Afghanistans deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said the airstrike had hit the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, a 2,000-bed facility in Kabul, at about 9 p.m. local time. He said large sections of the facility had been destroyed, and that the death toll had so far reached 400 people, while about 250 people had been reported injured. There was no updated official death toll early Tuesday morning. Local television stations posted footage on X showing security forces using flashlights as they carried out casualties while firefighters struggled to extinguish flames among the ruins of a building. Cross-border fireThe strike came hours after Afghan officials said the two sides exchanged fire along their common border, killing four people in Afghanistan, as the deadliest fighting between the neighbors in years entered a third week. Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strike on X, accusing Pakistan of targeting hospitals and civilian sites to perpetrate horrors. He said those killed were innocent civilians and addicts.We strongly condemn this crime and consider such an act to be against all accepted principles and a crime against humanity, he said in a separate post on X. Pakistan dismisses the allegationsPakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharifs spokesperson, Mosharraf Zaidi, dismissed the allegations as baseless, saying no hospital was targeted in Kabul. Pakistans Information Minister Attaullah Tarar posted on X in the early hours Tuesday that the Pakistani military had carried out precision airstrikes targeting military installations in Kabul and the eastern province of Nangarhar. He said technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage facilities at two locations in Kabul were destroyed. All targeting has been done with precision only at those infrastructures which are being used by Afghan Taliban regime to support its multiple terror proxies, he wrote. Pakistans Ministry of Information said earlier that Mujahids claim was false and misleading and aimed at stirring sentiment and cover what it described as illegitimate support for cross-border terrorism. It said Pakistans targeting was precise and carefully undertaken to ensure no collateral damage is inflicted. UN calls on Afghanistan to combat militantsThe strike came hours after the U.N. Security Council called on Afghanistans Taliban rulers to immediately step up efforts to combat terrorism. Pakistan accuses Kabul of harboring militant groups, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, which it says carry out attacks inside Pakistan.The Security Council resolution, adopted unanimously, didnt refer specifically to attacks carried out in Pakistan but condemned in the strongest terms all terrorist activity including terrorist attacks. Pakistans government accuses Afghanistan of providing safe haven to the Pakistani Taliban, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, as well as to outlawed Baloch separatist groups and other militants who frequently target Pakistani security forces and civilians across the country. Kabul denies the charge. The latest conflictThe fighting the most severe between the two neighbors began in late February after Afghanistan launched cross-border attacks in response to Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan that Kabul said killed civilians. The clashes disrupted a ceasefire brokered by Qatar in October after earlier fighting killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants.Pakistan has declared it is in open war with Afghanistan. The conflict has alarmed the international community, particularly as the area is one where other militant organizations, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, still have a presence and have been trying to resurface.On Saturday, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said Afghanistans Taliban administration crossed a red line by deploying drones that injured several civilians in Pakistan last week.___Ahmed reported from Islamabad, and Becatoros from Athens, Greece. Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed. ELENA BECATOROS Becatoros oversees coverage of southeast Europe for The Associated Press, with frequent assignments to the Middle East and Afghanistan. Based in Athens, Greece, she has worked around the world, including covering war in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine. twitter instagram mailto