Pakistan-Afghanistan Conflict: Video Captures Massive Fire at Kabul Hospital as Airstrike Kills At Least 400

Videos circulating online showed the aftermath of an airstrike on a hospital in Kabul, with Afghan officials saying hundreds of people were killed in the attack. Authorities in Afghanistan said the strike hit a treatment centre for drug users in the capital late on Monday. Footage shared by local media shows the building on fire as firefighters struggle to contain the blaze.

Afghan officials initially said more than 400 people had been killed. In a post on X, deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the strike had destroyed large sections of the hospital. He added that at least 400 people had now been confirmed dead, while a further 250 had been injured. Rescue teams were still working to extinguish the fire and recover bodies from the site, he added.

Pakistan has denied targeting a hospital.

Earlier, Afghanistan’s Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said during a television interview that all parts of the drug treatment hospital had been destroyed.

Government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid also condemned the strike on social media, saying it violated Afghanistan’s sovereignty and that many of those killed or wounded were patients receiving treatment.

Local television channels broadcast footage showing firefighters battling flames among the ruins of the building.

Officials in Pakistan have rejected claims that a hospital was targeted. A spokesman for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Mosharraf Zaidi, described the allegations as baseless.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information said the airstrikes had instead “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure” in Kabul and in eastern Afghanistan, including in Nangarhar Province.

In a statement posted on X, the ministry said the strikes were aimed at equipment storage sites and ammunition facilities linked to Afghan Taliban forces and militants operating against Pakistan. It added that the targeting had been “precise and carefully undertaken to ensure no collateral damage is inflicted,” and described claims that a hospital had been struck as “false and misleading”.

The alleged attack came hours after Afghan officials said the two countries had exchanged fire along their shared border. Authorities said four people in southeastern Afghanistan, including two children, were killed and 10 others injured when mortar shells fired from Pakistan hit villages in Khost Province.

The clashes mark some of the deadliest fighting between the neighbours in years and have now entered a third week.

Pakistan has said the conflict escalated after Afghan forces launched cross-border attacks following earlier Pakistani strikes that Kabul said had killed civilians. Pakistani officials have described the situation as an “open war”.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said Afghanistan’s Taliban administration had crossed a “red line” by deploying drones that injured civilians in Pakistan last week.

Afghanistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi said defending the country’s sovereignty was the duty of all citizens, while expressing regret over civilian casualties from recent Pakistani strikes.