Kunduz victims to receive condolence payments

The Pentagon said it would issue payments to the families of the civilians killed and injured during last week’s deadly US strike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan.

‘‘The Department of Defence believes it is important to address the consequences of the tragic incident,’’ Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. ‘‘One step the department can take is to make condolence payments to civilian noncombatants injured and the families of civilian noncombatants killed as a result of US military operations.’’

The US government has regularly issued payments to Afghans for property damage, injuries and deaths throughout its military presence in the beleaguered country. The attack on the hospital run by Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian aid group, killed 22 people and wounded 37 more.

Speaking last week during congressional testimony, General John Campbell, the top US commander in Afghanistan, called the airstrike a mistake. It was carried out by an AC-130 gunship on behalf of Afghan forces under attack by the Taliban. President Barack Obama apologised last week to Doctors Without Borders for the attack.

It remains unclear how the mistake happened. Doctors Without Borders, operating the only trauma centre of its kind in northeastern Afghanistan, repeatedly has said that it had given GPS coordinates to the US military before and during the attack.

The Pentagon, Nato and the Afghan government are conducting separate investigations into one of the worst US attacks to produce civilian casualties since the war began 14 years ago. The Pentagon said it would pay to repair the hospital and work with families and civilians to determine appropriate payments.