World condemns attack on hospital
THE medical charity Doctors Without Borders has closed its hospital in the Afghan province of Kunduz, and says a suspected United States air strike that killed 22 people there appeared to have been a war crime.
The closure is a blow to the embattled northern province, where more than 400 people have been injured in the past week in fighting between Afghan security forces and the Taliban, which briefly took control of the provincial capital last week.
The Pentagon said three investigations were under way into the air strike – one by the US Defence Department, one involving both the US and Afghanistan, and one by Nato. Pentagon officials have so far said only that a US air strike may have caused collateral damage.
Doctors Without Borders said it would be satisfied only with an investigation by an independent, outside authority.
The aid agency called the bombing, which went on for more than an hour, horrifying and said it had informed US and Afghan officials of the hospital’s GPS coordinates before the strike occurred.
Doctors Without Borders said the death toll was 22 – 12 staff and 10 patients, three of them children. Dozens of other people were injured.
‘‘Under the clear presumption that a war crime has been committed, [Doctors Without Borders] demands that a full and transparent investigation into the event be conducted by an international body,’’ said.
Senior Pentagon officials said the three investigations that had independent the organisation been launched were centred on whether the US military knew the hospital was nearby when an AC130 gunship opened fire, and whether the clinic was being used by the Taliban to launch attacks.
So far, no US or Afghan personnel had been able to gain access to the hospital because the area remained contested, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said. He called the situation ‘‘confused and complicated’’.
The investigations would be ‘‘full and transparent’’, Carter said.
‘‘There will be accountability, as always in these incidents, if that is required.’’
US defence officials said small teams of US and Afghan special forces were pinned down by Taliban gunfire near the hospital and called in an AC-130 to pound the area with fire.
The AC-130 Spectre is a heavily armed ground attack aircraft fitted with auto cannons that fire rounds powerful enough to rip apart tanks.
Defence officials said that because it was an intense fire exchange with the Taliban, it remained unclear if the AC-130 was responsible for the damage to the hospital or if it came from elsewhere.
Victims inside the hospital said the strikes continued even after Doctors Without Borders contacted military officials and informed them of the hospital’s position.
Local and international bodies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations and Afghanistan’s public health ministry, have condemned the hospital attack.
For Kunduz residents, basic staples are still hard to come by and many people are afraid to leave their homes. The hospital’s closure is another setback in a week when fighting has left the people waiting for a return to normal.
Wahidullah Mayar, spokesman for the ministry of public health, said the Doctors Without Borders hospital had helped to reduce the strain on government hospitals, which saw dozens of patients over the past week.