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Afghan medics killed in suspected US air strike
NATO spokesperson admits US air strikes on Afghanistan may have struck a clinic run by the Medecins Sans Frontieres, in an attack that kiled at least three staff
The MSF hospital in Kunduz appears to have sustained significant damage
A US air strike may have struck a hospital run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Afghanistan, a NATO spokesperson said, after the medical aid group blamed air strikes for an attack on its clinic that left three of its staff dead.
MSF said that three of its staff were killed after a clinic in Kunduz was hit by an air strike on Saturday, and that more than 30 of its staff remain unaccounted for. The hospital had 105 patients at the time of the attack.
It is the only medical facility of its kind in the north-east of Afghanistan.
Fighting has raged around the northern Afghan provincial capital of Kunduz, recaptured by government forces this week from Taliban militants who had seized it on Monday. It was the first major urban centre to fall to the Taliban in 14 years, in what was described by its leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour as a "symbolic victory".
The Taliban has insisted that it remains in control of the city.
US forces launched an air strike into the city at 2:15am. Col. Brian Tribus, spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, said the strike “may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility” and that the incident ins under investigation.
MSF director of operations Bart Janssens said the humanitarian group is "deeply shocked by the attack, the killing of our staff and patients and the heavy toll it has inflicted on healthcare in Kunduz."
