Civilian deaths as U.S. bombs hospital in Afghanistan

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Twenty two civilians, including three children, died, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported, on Saturday after a United States airstrike hit a hospital in the city of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. Amongst the fatalities were twelve charity staff working for MSF. MSF said there were about two hundred people in the building.

	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 international body.
—Médecins Sans Frontières

	The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility.
—United States military

A statement was issued on the MSF website criticising the attack and stating "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 international body." The US military released a statement saying they had struck "against individuals threatening the force" and "The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility." The US Government announced there would be three separate investigations, carried out by the Afghan forces, the US military, and NATO. The Afghan interior ministry claimed there had been a Taliban presence in the hospital although this was denied by the insurgent organization.

The attack was also condemned by the International Committee of the Red Cross, whilst the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, described the strike as "inexcusable" and called for a full investigation.

On September 28, the Taliban launched an assault on Kunduz. The US has been carrying out air strikes to support Afghan government forces attempting to recover the city. MSF said it had often provided the Afghan and US governments with details of the location of the hospital, particularly on September 29. The Taliban had unsuccessfully tried to capture Kunduz in April this year, but they were pushed back by government forces.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Related news

"Afghan provincial governor killed in mosque bomb attack" — Wikinews, October 9, 2010
"NATO: 130 militants killed in Afghanistan" — Wikinews, November 10, 2009

Sister links

Kunduz hospital airstrike

Battle of Kunduz

Sources

Yeganeh Torbati. "Afghan forces called for air strike in Kunduz: U.S. general" — Reuters, October 5, 2015
"Kunduz Hospital Airstrike" — Médecins Sans Frontières, October 5, 2015
"NATO 'Deeply Saddened' After US Bombs Hospital" — Sky News, October 3, 2015
"Afghan hospital attack: MSF condemns Kunduz air strikes" — BBC News Online, October 3, 2015
"Afghanistan: ICRC condemns bombing of MSF hospital in Kunduz" — International Committee of the Red Cross, October 3, 2015
"Kunduz hospital airstrikes “inexcusable” -- Zeid" — UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, October 3, 2015
Slobodan Lekic. "Afghan forces to counterattack as district falls to Taliban" — Stars & Stripes, June 21, 2015

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License