Rescue workers comb ruins of Kabul drug clinic after Pakistan strike

AFP reporters counted at least 30 bodies being removed from the rubble of the facility and saw medics treating dozens of wounded in the chaotic and smouldering aftermath of the attack on Monday night.

The Taliban government accused Pakistan of targeting civilians. But Islamabad maintained it had carried out precision strikes on "military installations and terrorist support infrastructure".

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

At first light, chairs, blankets, pieces of hospital beds and human remains could be seen in the blackened ruins of the rehabilitation centre, which treated patients for drug addiction.

Crowds gathered outside as family members sought news of their loved ones, including Baryalai Amiri, a 38-year-old mechanic, whose brother was admitted as a patient about 25 days ago.

"We are not given the proper information," he told AFP, as rescuers picked through the rubble nearby. "So far, we don't know where he is."

The Italian NGO Emergency said soon after the strike that it received three bodies at its hospital in Kabul and was treating 27 wounded but expected the toll to be much higher.

"There are hundreds of dead and injured," interior ministry spokesman Abdul Matin Qani told reporters at the scene on Tuesday, adding that some victims were "completely annihilated and it is impossible to identify them".

Mass funerals may be organised for the victims, he added.

The Afghan health ministry initially estimated that more than 200 people could have been killed, with as many wounded.

A Taliban government spokesman later said the death toll was at least double that, with 250 wounded.
Targeted
Monday evening's attack triggered panic in Kabul, sending people running for cover as anti-aircraft guns fired back not long after they had broken their daily Ramadan fast.

"I heard the sound of the jet patrolling," Omid Stanikzai, 31, a security guard at the drug treatment centre, told AFP.

"There were military units all around us. When these military units fired on the jet, the jet dropped bombs and a fire broke out."

All of the dead and injured were civilians, he added.

Pakistan said it also hit the eastern border province of Nangarhar on Monday.

"Pakistan's targeting is precise and carefully undertaken to ensure no collateral damage is inflicted," the information ministry said.

Habibullah Kabulbai, 55, arrived at the centre on Monday night, hoping to find his brother, Nawroz, who was admitted five days ago.

"I can't find him," he said, weeping. "What should we do? I have no words... We are helpless. This has not only happened to me but the whole of Afghanistan."

– 'De-escalate' –

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said he was "dismayed" by reports of the air strikes and civilian casualties.

"I urge parties to de-escalate, exercise maximum restraint & respect international law, including the protection of civilians and civilian objects such as hospitals," he posted on X.

On Friday, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan confirmed the deaths of at least 75 civilians in the country since clashes with Pakistan intensified on February 26.

Pakistan's arch-foe India called Monday's strike "a cowardly and unconscionable act of violence" that threatened regional peace and stability.

But South Asia expert Michael Kugelman, from the Atlantic Council international affairs think-tank, told AFP the fighting showed little sign of ending soon.

"The Arab Gulf nations that mediated previous rounds of Afghanistan-Pakistan talks are now bogged down by their own war. Other mediators, including China, have had limited success," he said.

"Pakistan appears intent to keep hitting targets in Afghanistan, and the Taliban determined to retaliate with operations on Pakistani border posts and potentially with asymmetric tactics -- from launching drones to sponsoring militant attacks in wider Pakistan.

"There are no off-ramps in sight."