US General Says Afghans Called in Airstrike That Hit Kunduz Hospital

Campbell said initial reports that the strike was launched to support US troops who had come under Taliban fire were incorrect.

Asked whether he could confirm in general terms whether hospitals and other civilian facilities like mosques and schools are off limits to USA airstrikes, Campbell replied, “Very broadly, we do not strike those kind of targets, absolutely”.

While vigorously denying the Afghan claim, Doctors Without Borders said the account was tantamount to admitting a war crime in that it suggested the US had not struck the facility unintentionally while targeting Taliban fighters in the vicinity, but had deliberately fired on the hospital.

While Campbell declined to speak about the rules of engagement for USA forces in Kunduz due to the ongoing investigation, he reconfirmed that “the Afghans asked for air support from a special forces team that we have on the ground providing train advise and assist in Kunduz”.

President Barack Obama offered condolences to the victims of the “tragic incident” in a statement Saturday.

“Under the clear presumption that a war crime has been committed, MSF demands that a full and transparent investigation into the event be conducted by an independent worldwide body”, MSF General Director Christopher Stokes said in a statement.

Carter refused to speculate on what occurred but stressed that the United States would hold accountable “anybody responsible for doing something they shouldn’t have done”.

Doctors Without Borders, which said Sunday that it was pulling its operation out of Kunduz, has called for an independent investigation of the strike.

Doctors Without Borders has said it advised Afghan and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation coalition forces of its location as recently as Tuesday.

Hamdullah Danishi, the acting governor of Kunduz province, said the MSF hospital was a “Taliban base”.

Establishing whether the bombing constitutes a war crime, as MSF asserts, will require a detailed picture of what exactly happened – something that’s not available right now.

More than 80 MSF staff as well as 105 patients and their caregivers were at the hospital at the time, according to the charity.

He restated that the 9,800 USA troops serving as trainers Afghanistan are not directly fighting the Taliban.

At least 60 people are known to have died and 400 to have been wounded in the past week’s fighting.

The NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan said today that it had conducted a preliminary multi-national assessment of the attack and hoped to have the results in a “matter of days”.

Campbell, who is in the American Capital to testify before a Congressional Committee here tomorrow, said he would ensure that the investigation is transparent and open.

The USA military has said American forces carried out an air strike in Kunduz city at 2:15 a.m. local on Saturday.