WASHINGTON/KABUL(SW): The US president, Barack Obama, has pledged a full investigation into an apparent US airstrike on an Afghan hospital that killed 19 people.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said patients burned to death in their beds during a bombing raid that continued for half an hour after US and Afghan authorities were informed the hospital had been hit. The United Nations said it could amount to a war crime. Obama, offered his “deepest condolences” for what he called a “tragic incident”.
“The Department of Defence has launched a full investigation, and we will await the results of that inquiry before making a definitive judgement as to the circumstances of this tragedy,” Obama said in a statement released by the White House.
Nato earlier conceded US forces may have been behind the bombing, after forces launched a strike they said was intended to target militants. “The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility. This incident is under investigation,” a Nato statement said.
Earlier on Saturday, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemned in the strongest terms the tragic and devastating air strike on the Médecins sans Frontières hospital in Kunduz.
I commend Médecins sans Frontières for their work. Our condolences are with them, their patients, family and friends, said Nicholas Haysom, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA.
At 2.10 am on Saturday October 03, the Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) Trauma centre in Kunduz was hit several times during sustained bombing and was very badly damaged, three MSF staff got confirmed dead and more than 30 are unaccounted for, the charity organization said.
“We are deeply shocked by the attack, the killing of our staff and patients and the heavy toll it has inflicted on healthcare in Kunduz,”says Bart Janssens, MSF Director of Operations.
ENDS
