Death Toll Rises in Kunduz Attack on Doctors Without Borders Hospital

Investigators for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation coalition in Afghanistan said they have found credible evidence that a US airstrike in Kunduz, Afghanistan, killed civilians.

“If we let this go, as if it was a non-event, we are basically giving a blank cheque to any countries who are at war”, MSF global President Joanne Liu said earlier in October.

The death toll from a United States air strike on an Afghan hospital has jumped to 30, Doctors Without Borders said today, as an initial North Atlantic Treaty Organisation probe conceded that the catastrophic raid caused civilian casualties.

All the contradictions had been shrugged off on the grounds that a report was coming “soon” that would clarify things, but officials seem to be struggling to get together a remotely plausible excuse, and have made a decision to just stonewall as long as possible.

CNN reported that the U.S.is investigating the hospital bombing.

The strike occurred as the Taliban grabbed control of Kunduz, a city of 300,000 people – the first time since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 that they had seized a major Afghan city.

The main building was destroyed and the hospital has been shut down.

The USA says the hospital was hit by mistake but has accepted responsibility and has launched a wider investigation headed by a U.S. general and two brigadier generals, which is expected later.

A North Atlantic Treaty Organisation statement released on Saturday said that to ensure the USA military’s own investigation is conducted in an independent and unbiased manner, the commander of Resolute Support in Afghanistan, Gen. John Campbell, has appointed U.S. Army Maj. In a separate letter to President Barack Obama that is circulating on Capitol Hill, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) highlighted the need for an investigation by a group without ties to the U.S.