At least 400 people were killed and roughly 250 wounded after an airstrike hit a major drug-treatment hospital in Kabul late Monday, according to Afghanistan’s Taliban administration. Officials said large portions of the sprawling 2,000-bed facility were destroyed in what they labelled the deadliest single attack since cross-border hostilities with neighbouring Pakistan reignited last month.

Pakistan swiftly rejected the allegation, insisting its forces had struck only militant infrastructure and had avoided civilian sites. The incident marks a severe escalation in a conflict that has already seen repeated exchanges of fire, airstrikes, and mounting casualties on both sides.

Taliban say hospital destroyed as rescue efforts continue

Deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said on X that the strike hit at around 9 pm, tearing through the rehabilitation centre and setting off fires that emergency teams were still attempting to contain. He stated that the death toll had “so far” climbed to 400, while approximately 250 people were injured.

"The Pakistani military regime carried out an airstrike at approximately 9:00 PM this evening on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, a 2,000-bed facility dedicated to the treatment of drug addiction. As a result of the attack, large sections of the hospital have been destroyed, and there are serious concerns about a high number of casualties. Unfortunately, the death toll has so far reached 400, while around 250 others have been reported injured. Rescue teams are currently at the scene working to control the fire and recover the remaining bodies of the victims," Fitrat wrote on X.

Footage aired by local broadcasters on social media showed rescue personnel using torches to navigate wreckage as firefighters battled flames. Fitrat added that responders were continuing to recover bodies from the ruins.

Hours earlier, Afghan officials had reported deadly border clashes, saying four people were killed as the third week of intensified fighting unfolded.

Kabul accuses Pakistan of targeting hospitals

Government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strike, accusing Islamabad of “targeting hospitals and civilian sites to perpetrate horrors.” In a post made before the toll rose, he said the victims were patients.

“We strongly condemn this crime and consider such an act to be against all accepted principles and a crime against humanity,” he wrote.

Pakistan, however, denied the claim. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesperson Mosharraf Zaidi dismissed Kabul’s version as baseless, saying no hospital had been targeted.

Pakistan claims it hit militant infrastructure only

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information said on X that the military had carried out “precise” strikes against what it described as Taliban-linked militant infrastructure in Kabul and Nangarhar. It said the attacks focused on “military installations and terrorist support infrastructure including technical equipment storage and ammunition storage” used by Afghan Taliban and Pakistan-based militants.

It reiterated that the operation was “precise and carefully undertaken to ensure no collateral damage is inflicted,” calling Mujahid’s accusations “false and misleading.”

Islamabad has long accused Kabul of sheltering the Pakistani Taliban and several outlawed insurgent groups, a charge the Taliban administration denies.

UN Security Council issues warning amid rising tensions

The escalation came shortly after the United Nations Security Council urged Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to intensify counter-terrorism efforts. The council unanimously adopted a resolution condemning “in the strongest terms all terrorist activity including terrorist attacks” and extended the mandate of the UNAMA political mission for three months.

Cross-border conflict deepens

The latest violence follows weeks of mounting hostilities. Fighting surged in February after Afghanistan retaliated for earlier Pakistani airstrikes that it said caused civilian casualties. Those clashes collapsed a ceasefire negotiated by Qatar in October, which had been holding after previous deadly confrontations.

Islamabad has since declared it is in “open war” with Afghanistan, a development that has alarmed international observers given the continued presence of groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State group in the wider region.

Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar recently claimed the military had killed 684 Afghan Taliban fighters, a figure Kabul rejected, saying losses were significantly lower. Afghan officials have counter-claimed that more than 100 Pakistani soldiers were killed.

Islamabad says Kabul crossed a ‘Red Line’

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari accused the Taliban administration of crossing a “red line” by deploying drones that injured several Pakistani civilians last week. In response, Pakistan’s air force struck what it said were equipment storage and “technical support infrastructure” sites in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar.

Kabul reported that the strikes hit two locations, an empty security post and a drug-treatment facility that sustained minor damage.

In remarks delivered in Kabul, Afghanistan’s administrative Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi expressed regret over civilian deaths in recent Pakistani operations, saying the conflict had been imposed on Afghanistan and that protecting national sovereignty was a duty shared by all citizens.

(With inputs from AP)