U.S. general says Afghan forces called in air strike on Kunduz hospital

ReutersAfghan staff react inside a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital after an air strike in the city of Kunduz, Afghanistan, on Oct.3, 2015.

A day later, the Pentagon said a strike had been conducted against insurgents directly firing on USA forces – a claim Gen Campbell has now rolled back on.

President Barack Obama has promised a full investigation but the worldwide outrage over the deadly incident has piled pressure on Washington for a more transparent probe.

Three investigations are now underway, he said, and “if errors were committed, we’ll acknowledge them”.

The group said the main hospital building was “repeatedly hit very precisely during each aerial raid, while surrounding buildings were left mostly untouched”, implying that the U.S. strikes were aimed at a civilian medical facility.

“This attack is abhorrent and a grave violation of worldwide Humanitarian Law”, said Meinie Nicolai, MSF president, in a statement. “This is different from the initial reports which indicated that United States forces were threatened and that the airstrike was called on their behalf”, he said, according to the Associated Press.

US Army Brigadier General Richard Kim is the senior investigator on the incident and is in Kunduz now, he added. The explosions and damage killed 12 staff members and 10 patients, and injured another 50 staff and patients.

U.S. defence secretary Ash Carter said an inquiry was under way into whether the carnage at the clinic was caused by an airstrike from an American fighter jet, while Afghan officials said helicopter gunships had returned fire from Taleban fighters hiding in the compound.

On Saturday, the Afghan defence ministry said “armed terrorists” were using the hospital “as a position to target Afghan forces and civilians”.

While describing the hospital’s destruction as a battlefield accident, us military commanders released information that was partial and, in a few respects, erroneous.

The hospital was running at full capacity, treating both sides in the fighting, before the airstrikes.

The Iranian spokeswoman on Sunday condemned the attack as an “irresponsible” and “unjustifiable” move, and expressed sympathy with the Afghan nation and government, particularly the bereaved families of victims. The Taliban, who attacked on multiple fronts, held the city for three days before a government counter-offensive began.

Campbell said the bodies of the six C-130 crew members were scheduled to arrive at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, on Monday. On Monday, Taliban forces claimed to have recaptured parts of Kunduz, hours after government forces gained brief control of the Afghan city, Al Jazeera reported. At least 60 people are known to have died and 400 to have been wounded in the past week’s fighting.