MSF attacks Kunduz claims
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres has shut down operations in the Afghan city of Kunduz after an apparent United States bombing raid on its hospital, and ramped up demands for an investigation into what it labels a war crime.
The group said 22 people were killed, some burned to death in their beds as the bombardment continued for more than an hour early on Saturday (Afghan time), even after US and Afghan authorities were informed the hospital had been hit.
“Under the clear presumption that a war crime has been committed, MSF demands that a full and the Syrian toddler face down on a Turkish beach shocked the world and helped spur European nations to seek an effective response to the growing migrant crisis.
Journalists and activists were spat at, egged, hit during a protest rally at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester. Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, said that the actions of some protesters during the antiausterity protests were “inexcusable”. Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, was caught up in the march and had to be escorted off the street through a hotel side-door, while Robert McIlveen, Tory candidate at the last election, said he had been hit in the mouth. Around 85,000 people are thought to have taken part in the largely peaceful rally to protest against austerity and cuts. Colm Lock, 19, a Manchester University student and former Conservative candidate in the 2015 local elections in the city, was hit by an egg. Middle East Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has announced that Baghdad’s “Green transparent investigation into the event be conducted by an independent international body,” MSF general director Christopher Stokes said.
Stokes also hit out at claims by Afghan officials that insurgents were using the hospital to target Afghan forces and civilians. “These statements imply that Afghan and US forces working together decided to raze to the ground a fully functioning hospital with more than 180 staff and patients inside because they claim that members of the Taliban were present,” he said. “This amounts to an admission of a war crime.” Zone” is open to the public for the first time in 12 years, albeit with many remaining restrictions. The heavily fortified 10sq km area in the heart of Baghdad is home to the country’s top political institutions and embassies. “The Prime Minister opened the Green Zone to public passage and people in their vehicles came in droves,” a statement from Abadi’s office said. The measure offers limited access to the vast area, with most streets still requiring a special badge, but it is likely to be popular nonetheless and ease traffic in the city. The International Zone of Baghdad was already the seat of government power under former President Saddam Hussein and became known as the Green Zone after the 2003 US invasion. The area, nestled in a bend of the River Tigris, was then sealed off to the public and became the headquarters of Iraq’s new rulers. Its foreign residents still sometimes refer to what lies outside as the “Red Zone”. The Green Zone is home to the offices of the President and Prime Minister, Parliament and Iraq’s top courts, as well as the US Embassy, which is the world’s largest.