Pakistan rejected it involvement in the United States bombing of a Kunduz hospital

It’s unclear whether commanders who unleashed the AC-130 gunship on the hospital killing at least 22 patients and hospital staff were aware that the site was a hospital or knew about the allegations of possible enemy activity.

A spokesperson for NATO’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan did not immediately confirm or deny the report.

Following Taliban retreat from Kunduz city, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani visited Kunduz on Friday and ordered government forces to pursue the militants in Kunduz and northeastern provinces until lasting peace and stability return to the northern region of the country.

Cone said an armored vehicle full of investigators arrived unannounced Thursday at the hospital facility and crashed through its gates. “Only after the tank forced its way into our compound was MSF informed that this intrusion was in fact a delegation from the U.S./NATO/Afghan investigation team”. It also said members of the investigation team had previously agreed to notify MSF before taking steps that involved the group’s personnel or assets.

Issuing a new statement on the ongoing United States efforts to block an worldwide investigation into the recent USA airstrike against the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital near Kunduz, MSF confirmed that a U.S. tank forced its way into the hospital yesterday totally without permission. The former intelligence official was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity. MSF says none of their staff were Pakistani, and they had no information any of the patients were either. “This would amount to a premeditated massacre”. The intelligence suggested the hospital was being used as a Taliban command and control center and may have housed heavy weapons.

The medical charity has repeatedly declared that the bombing of the hospital-a protected space under humanitarian law-amounts to a war crime and only an independent probe can be trusted to reveal the truth about the attack. The official couldn’t say who ultimately authorized the strike, but said the point is the initial results show they did not initiate the attack knowing it was a hospital and override the restrictions because there were potential Taliban there. MSF press officer Tim Shenk told Common Dreams that the initiative garnered 50,000 signatures in the first 24 hours.

The U.S. and Afghan governments have launched three separate investigations.

Charred remains of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, after the U.S. airstrike on October 3.