US military suspends members over Afghan hospital airstrike

Pressure was growing Thursday for an global inquiry into a catastrophic United States strike on an MSF hospital in Afghanistan, after the military detailed “tragic but avoidable” errors but refused to say if there would be an independent investigation.

A series of errors, human and technical, led to an American gunship bombing a Doctors Without Borders Hospital in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz last month, killing 30, a US military probe has concluded.

Campbell said several people had been removed from duty over the incident as they await potential criminal prosecution or administrative discipline, although he declined to say who and how many.

Some of those under investigation include members of the U.S. Special Operations team on the ground in Kunduz, who occupied a position several hundred meters away from the building at the time of the strike – though they couldn’t see the building – and had been involved in heavy combat with the Taliban for five straight days.

The crew also failed to “undertake appropriate measures” to determine whether the hospital was a viable target, Campbell said.

The group stands by its call for a completely independent investigation.

Campbell acknowledged the hospital was on a no-strike list and that MSF had called during the attack to alert the U.S.-led forces.

A deadly military attack on an Afghan hospital was “a tragic mistake”, a report says.

According to the report’s findings, on the night of October 2, Afghan special forces requested air support to help clear the Taliban from the headquarters of the intelligence service, known as the National Directorate of Security, or NDS.

“The frightening catalog of errors outlined today illustrates gross negligence on the part of US forces and violations of the rules of war”, Stokes said.

At least 31 people, including 12 staff of the Doctors without Border were reported killed and 28 others were injured in the airstrike, which was marked on of the worst incidents of civilian casualties in the 14-year history of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan.

Ten minutes into the strike, Doctors Without Borders staff contacted USA forces to let them know they were under attack by an unknown aircraft.

A summary of one of the investigations, obtained by The Associated Press, said that witnesses differed in their versions of how and why the strike was authorized. In addition, there was no hostile enemy activity at the MSF building, Campbell said, but the US attack continued. Doctors Without Borders has said they likely would rise to that level. Under U.S. rules of engagement, no hospital or similar facility is a valid target.

Campbell said that he briefed Gen. Philip Breedlove, the top USA commander for NATO, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Afghan Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, on the results of the investigation. “We are committed to making sure this cannot and does not happen again”, he said.

A spokesman for Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry said a day after the airstrike that the hospital was attacked because “terrorists” were hiding inside.