Medical charity ‘disgusted’ at Afghanistan’s justification of hospital attack

Medecins Sans Frontieres claims Afghanistan's attempt to justify Saturday's attack on a hospital in Kunduz "an admission of a war crime" 

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said it is "disgusted" by statements by the Afghan government justifying Saturday’s air strike on its hospital in Kunduz, calling it an “admission of a war crime”.

The Afghan defence ministry had said that “armed terrorists” were using the hospital “as a position to target Afghan forces and civilians”. MSF said the statement implies that Afghan and US forces decided to bomb a hospital because of claims Taliban members were inside. 

"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,” the medical aid charity said in a statement. "This amounts to an admission of a war crime. This utterly contradicts the initial attempts of the US government to minimise the attack as 'collateral damage.'"

Twelve MSF staff members and 10 patients were killed when the hospital was hit by a series of air strikes lasting more than an hour on Saturday. Dozens more were injured and the hospital suffered extensive damage.

"The hospital was repeatedly and precisely hit during each aerial raid, while the rest of the compound was left mostly untouched,” MSF said on its Twitter page. "Not a single member of our staff reported any fighting inside the hospital compound prior to the US air strike on Saturday morning."

US defence secretary Ashton Carter has pledged a full, transparent investigation into whether the US military could be linked to the attack, and MSF is insisting on an independent inquiry by an international body.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has also called for a thorough and impartial investigation, warning that the strikes were “inexcusable and possibly even criminal”.

US President Barack Obama has expressed his condolences, and said that he would await the outcome of an inquiry before passing any definitive judgement.

Afghan government forces, backed by the US-led coalition, have been engaged in a battle to retake the northern city of Kunduz, that was seized by Taliban fighters last month. Afghan troops are now reported to have recaptured most of the city.