Pakistan struck a rehab centre and killed 269 Afghans. Their families want to know why

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Pakistan struck a rehab centre and killed 269 Afghans. Their families want to know why14 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleYogita LimayeSouth Asia and Afghanistan correspondentEPAOn a rainy, cold morning Masooda makes her way to a hillside cemetery in north-west Kabul to visit the grave of her younger brother Mirwais. But she doesn't know exactly where he was buried after he was killed in a Pakistani airstrike two months ago.

Instead, she stands at the edge of a mass grave, neatly covered with tiny white stones and roughly marked with grey granite slabs, which is the final resting place of some of the at least 269 people killed in the attack on a drug rehabilitation centre. Exactly how many are in the grave is impossible to say: like Mirwais, who was 24, many were barely identifiable – reduced to body parts or burned beyond recognition. "My brother's body was in pieces.

The Details

There was barely anything left of him to give us," says Masooda, 27, breaking down as she speaks. "They just found his torso. I identified it through a birthmark he had.

"The attack on the Omid Drug Rehabilitation Hospital is the deadliest attack in Afghanistan, possibly ever, but certainly in recent history, including 20 years of war between the Taliban, and Nato and Afghan republic forces. A report released on Tuesday by the United Nations puts the number they can confirm at 269, but acknowledges the real figure is likely to be significantly higher. There are calls for the attack to be investigated as a war crime.

Anadolu via Getty ImagesThe facility had been operating as a drug rehabilitation centre for a decadeFighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been going on for months, leaving hundreds dead, most of them from Pakistani airstrikes. Islamabad accuses the Taliban government of sheltering militants who attack Pakistan. Kabul denies doing so.

What Experts Say

The carnage at the drug rehab centre accounts for most of those killed in the fighting this year. The scale of the death toll is so staggering it has shocked Afghanistan, despite its long familiarity with violent conflict. The UN, which was given access to the site, as well as the 's Afghan service teams who were on the ground in the immediate aftermath, confirm the strike hit civilians undergoing treatment.

Human Rights Watch called it "an unlawful attack and a possible war crime". But Pakistan disputes it hit a civilian target. In a statement to the it said that "no hospital, no drug rehabilitation centre, and no civilian facility was targeted", adding: "The targets were military and terrorist infrastructure.

"Masooda is angered by the claim. I have seen it and it wasn't a military camp. There were men admitted there who had come to get healed and return to their families," says Masooda.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.