Amnesty International calls for probe into Pakistan airstrike on Kabul rehabilitation centre

Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation into Pakistan’s airstrike on Kabul’s Omid Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre in March this year, saying the attack should be examined as a possible war crime after it killed at least 269 civilians.

In a report released four months after the 16 March strike, the rights organization said it found no evidence to support Pakistan’s claim that the rehabilitation centre was being used to store weapons or ammunition or was serving any military purpose at the time of the attack.

According to Amnesty, the strike breached the special protections afforded to medical facilities under international humanitarian law and violated the principles of distinction, precaution and proportionality, which are designed to protect civilians during armed conflict.

“The attack on the Omid Centre constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law – possibly amounting to a war crime,” said Isabelle Lassee, Amnesty International’s Acting Regional Director for South Asia.

She said Pakistan should conduct a transparent, thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the strike, including the decision-making process that led to the targeting of the facility, and make its findings public.

Amnesty said its investigation included analysis of more than 60 photographs and videos, over 30 satellite images and interviews with 11 witnesses, including employees, former staff members, victims’ relatives and people involved in rescue efforts.

The organization said it found no conclusive evidence that weapons or ammunition were stored at the site. It also said there was no indication that any warning had been issued before the attack, despite the facility’s protected status under international humanitarian law.

The Omid Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre, established in 2016 on the site of a former NATO base, was expanded into a 2,000-bed drug treatment facility after the Islamic Emirate returned to power in 2021. The adjacent Ibn-e-Sina Hospital also provided healthcare services to patients at the centre.

Amnesty said publicly available information, including media reports, satellite imagery and visible signboards identifying the site as a rehabilitation facility, should have made its civilian purpose clear.

The organization said videos released by Pakistan following the strike, which officials said showed weapons and ammunition at the site, did not provide conclusive evidence to support those claims. Amnesty’s weapons experts also said there was no indication of secondary explosions that would normally be expected if large ammunition stores had been struck.

The strike was one of several cross-border attacks carried out by Pakistan following an escalation in hostilities with the Islamic Emirate in late 2025.

According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), more than 750 civilians were killed or injured in Afghanistan between January and March 2026. UNAMA has independently verified that at least 269 civilians were killed and 122 others wounded in the Omid Centre strike.

Amnesty said it wrote to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 9 July requesting details of any investigation into the attack and evidence supporting the claim that the site was a military target. The organization said it had not received a response by the time its report was published.

Pakistan has previously maintained that the airstrike targeted military infrastructure and ammunition storage facilities in Kabul. Amnesty rejected that assertion, saying its investigation strongly indicates that the Omid Centre was not a legitimate military objective under international humanitarian law.

The organization warned that failing to investigate the attack risks entrenching impunity and increasing the likelihood of further unlawful attacks against civilians.