UN documents human rights situation in Kunduz under Taliban

“The vast majority of casualties documented so far resulted from ground fighting that could not be attributed exclusively to one party”, the UNAMA report read.

A victim of the U.S. Airstrike on Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Kunduz, receives treatment at the Mazar-e-Sharif Regional Hospital in Balkh, Afghanistan on October 04, 2015.

The report, released on Saturday, documents 289 deaths and 559 civilian injuries that occurred in Kunduz city and the surrounding districts between September 28 and October 13.

“The battle following the Taliban’s attack on the city led to a loss of protection of the most basic human rights, including the rights to life and security of person”.

It said the Taliban had created a “climate of fear” with systematic searches for women’s rights activists and civilians working for human rights organizations which prompted many to flee the city.

Taliban forces were alleged to have employed “large numbers” of children, both to fight and to carry ammunition, the report found. Medical clinics treated at least 200 child soldiers during the fighting, it said.

According to an investigation report obtained by The Associated Press, the crew of the gunship relied on a physical description of the compound provided by Afghan forces, leading them to hit the wrong target. Afghan military aircraft conducted airstrikes that killed as many as two civilians and injured five others.

Many records held at the clinic had been destroyed in the initial attack, the charity said, and human remains had been found in the rubble of the hospital over the past two months.

The U.S. military conceded, after a formal investigation, that the October 3 airstrikes on the facility were a mistake, blaming them on human error and mechanical and systems failures, and saying that action would be taken against an unspecified number of U.S. service members. On Wednesday, Doctors Without Borders presented a petition to the White House signed by 547,000 people calling on President Obama to agree to the independent investigation.

Several low-level US servicemembers involved in the airstrike have been suspended, but none have been officially disciplined.

“Only a full accounting by an independent, global body can restore our confidence in the commitments of the United States to uphold the laws of war, which prohibit such attacks on hospitals in the strongest terms”, said Jason Cone, the group’s executive director in the United States. The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility.

The servicemen allege that US forces “were not aware the Doctors Without Borders building was still being used as a hospital” because Afghan forces told them “it had become a Taliban command and control center”. “UNAMA is not aware of any such precautions having been taken in relation to the MSF hospital”. According to Reuters, the U.N.is investigating MSF’s latest claim.