Dozens Killed In Air Strike On Kabul Rehab 

Dozens of people have been killed in an air strike on a drug treatment centre in Afghanistan’s capital that the Taliban government blamed on Pakistan.

Many more were injured when the Kabul facility was reduced to a blazing ruin on Monday evening. A BBC reporter saw more than 30 bodies carried out on stretchers.

Taliban officials put casualties in the hundreds but this has not been confirmed. Pakistan denied striking any health facility, saying it “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure”.

The conflict between the neighbours re-erupted last month, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of harbouring militants who attack its territory – something Kabul denies.

Some 2,000 people were being treated at the rehab centre, according to officials at the facility, who believe there could be hundreds of casualties.

The Afghan health ministry’s spokesman, Sharafat Zaman Amarkhail, told the BBC there were no military facilities near the rehabilitation centre.

Residents reported hearing loud explosions across Kabul at around 20:50 local time (16:20 GMT), followed by the sound of aircraft and air defence systems.

Family members of those being treated at the centre were gathered outside, desperately trying to find information about their loved ones.

A Taliban government spokesperson claimed the death toll reached at least 400, but the BBC has not independently verified the numbers.

Pakistan’s information ministry said the strikes in Kabul and the eastern province of Nangarhar were “precise and carefully undertaken to ensure no collateral damage is inflicted”.

It dismissed Afghanistan’s claim as a “misreporting of facts… [that] seeks to stir sentiments, covering illegitimate support to cross-border terrorism”.

www.bbcnews.co.uk