US Airstrike Kills 16 In ‘Doctors Without Borders’ Hospital In — Sad News

Acting provincial Gov. Hamidullah Daneshi said most of the insurgents had fled the city and that those still standing their ground appeared to be what he called “foreigners”, non-Afghans who have been boosting Taliban forces in the north of the country for a few months. 37 people were injured in the strike including 19 staff (5 critical) and 18 patients and caretakers. He worked as a physician at the Doctors Without Borders hospital.

The humanitarian crisis in the city, which briefly fell to the Taliban last week before the government launched a counteroffensive, has been growing increasingly dire, with shops shuttered because of ongoing fighting and roads made impassable by mines planted by insurgents. Brig. Gen. Dawlat Waziri, the ministry’s deputy spokesman, told the AP that helicopter gunships fired on the militants, causing damage to the buildings.

The Doctors Without Borders hospital is seen in flames, after an…

“All parties to the conflict, including in Kabul and Washington, were clearly informed”, operations director Bart Janssens said. He did not say what sort of strike had damaged the compound.

“US forces conducted an airstrike in Kunduz city at 2.15am, 3 October, against individuals threatening the force”, said Col Brian Tribus, a U.S. military spokesman.

The U.S. President Barack Obama, according to media reports has also denounced the strike on hospital in Kunduz city and assured a thorough investigation into an apparent USA forces air strike on the hospital.

At the time of the bombing, 105 patients and their carers, and more than 80 MSF global and national staff were in the hospital.

In a statement, the organization said the attack was a “grave violation of worldwide humanitarian law” and demanded an independent investigation.

But United Nations rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the airstrike at the MSF-run hospital was “inexcusable” and “possibly criminal”.

Obama says he’s asked the U.S. Defense Department to keep him informed about the full investigation into what happened.

However, an Afghan interior ministry spokesperson claimed the fighters were attacking security forces with gunfire and grenades from an area near the hospital. It said an investigation had begun, while the White House said in a statement that it expects “a full accounting of the facts and circumstances” of the incident.

“We tried to take a look into one of the burning buildings”.

“In addition, the laws of war require that even if military forces misuse a hospital to deploy able-bodied combatants or weapons, the attacking force must issue a warning to cease this misuse, setting a reasonable time limit for it to end, and attacking only after such a warning has gone unheeded”, it said.

He said that the bombing had been heavy and that it was possible that more than one bomb had been dropped.

“We went to look for survivors”.

MSF said it had treated nearly 400 patients in the 150-bed hospital since fighting broke out, most for gunshot wounds. “There are many patients and staff who remain unaccounted for”. One local resident tells the Washington Post there have been up to 35 airstrikes in the area over the past five days.

He said that two children, who were injured in previous fighting in Kunduz, recalled how they and their father survived by hiding under a table.

The bombardment, which came days after Taliban militants overran the city, reduced a part of the facility to smouldering rubble and left surviving doctors and patients reeling with shock. Food and medical supplies can not get through because the Afghan military is still working to clear mines planted by the Taliban. Sporadic gunfights are continuing in various pockets of the city, as troops advance street by street.

Kunduz is a strategic hub on the main highway between Kabul and Tajikistan.