US to make ‘condolence payments’ to Kunduz victims

The Pentagon has announced that it will provide compensation for those killed and injured by US airstrikes on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz.

The group, known by its French acronym MSF, has demanded an independent international investigation.

It says 33 people are still missing after the October 3 attack, in addition to 12 MSF staff members and 10 patients already confirmed dead.

“The Department of Defense believes it is important to address the consequences of the tragic incident,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement on Saturday, adding that US Forces-Afghanistan also has the authority to pay for repairs to the hospital.

“One step the department can take is to make condolence payments to civilian noncombatants injured and the fami- lies of civilian noncombatants killed as a result of US military operations,” Cook said.

He added that US ForcesAfghanistan would determine “appropriate payments” through discussions with those affected.

According to the statement, the United States would also pay for the repair of the hospital, but the amount of the payments has not been determined.

The attack caused MSF to close the trauma center, seen as a lifeline in a war-battered region with scant medical care.

The strike came just days after the Taliban overran the city, with many residents wounded after pitched street battles.

US President Barack Obama has apologized to MSF, admitting that the strike was a mistake.

Three separate probes — by the US military, NATO and Afghan officials — are underway.

The airstrike on Oct 3 “mis- takenly struck” a hospital run by the aid agency Doctors Without Borders, Commander of US forces in Afghanistan John Campbell acknowledged on Tuesday in a congressional hearing in Washington.

Meanwhile, the aid agency said it had given GPS coordinates to the US military before and during the attack and it called for an independent investigation into the incident.