Devastating Air Strike Hits Kabul Rehabilitation Center During Ramadan Dinner

Wed Mar 18 2026 16:19:37 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

A tragic air strike on a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul during Ramadan has left hundreds dead and many injured. Survivors recount the horror of the attack, which took place as residents broke their fast.

A Pakistani air strike targeted the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul, killing around 400 people, according to Taliban officials. The strike occurred during Ramadan as residents were having dinner. Survivors reported chaos and devastation as rescue teams searched for bodies amid the rubble. The attack has raised serious questions regarding the targeting and safety of health facilities in conflict zones.

Rescue teams are continuing to pull bodies from the smoking rubble of a drug rehabilitation centre in the Afghan capital, Kabul, which was hit on Monday night in a devastating Pakistani air strike.

The attack on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, which happened at about 21:00 local time (16:30 GMT), is the deadliest in recent violence between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The strike happened as residents broke their daily fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The death toll has continued to rise, and the Taliban government says it believes the number of people killed is about 400, although this figure has yet to be confirmed. Many people were also injured.

Mohammad Shafee, a patient in his 20s, survived the attack.

I was in the kitchen helping to serve dinner when I heard a loud bang and ran for safety, he told the BBC.

When I returned later, I found most of our colleagues and people in the dining room hit. Only five of us survived.

Maiwand Hoshmand, a doctor who works at the facility, said patients had just finished dinner on Monday and some were at congregational prayer when jets hit three parts of the centre.

I heard the sound of the jet patrolling, said Omid Stanikzai, a security guard at the centre. There were military units all around us. When these military units fired on the jet, the jet dropped bombs and a fire broke out.

The whole place caught fire. It was like doomsday, recalled Ahmad, a 50-year-old patient.

As rescue and medical teams arrived, they found the facility in ruins, with many injured and disfigured casualties. Families began gathering at the site, desperately searching for news of their loved ones.

The Taliban government has yet to provide a coherent explanation for why the facility was targeted, although Pakistan claims it was conducting operations against military targets in the area.

The Omid Addiction Treatment facility, previously a military compound, was repurposed into a rehabilitation centre in 2016. It has been overwhelmed with patients amid a growing drug addiction crisis in the region.