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Afghan conflict: US investigates Kunduz hospital bombing

4 October 2015 Asia

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President Barack Obama says the US has launched a "full investigation" into air strikesthat killed 19 people at an MSF-run Afghan hospital on Saturday.

The US military says a strike targeting Taliban in the northern city of Kunduz may have caused"collateral damage".

Offering his "deepest condolences", Mr Obama said he expected a "full accounting of the facts"and would then make a definitive judgement.

At least 12 MSF staff members and seven patients were killed in the incident.

The UN called the strikes "inexcusable and possibly even criminal", with Secretary General BanKi-moon calling for a thorough and impartial investigation.

MSF

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"International and Afghan military planners have an obligation to respect and protect civilians atall times, and medical facilities and personnel are the object of a special protection," said UNHigh Commissioner for Human Rights Ra'ad Al Hussein Zeid.

The hospital, run by the medical charity MSF, was severely damaged by a series of strikeslasting more than an hour from 02:00 local time on Saturday. Dozens were also injured in theattack.

MSF president Meinie Nicolai described the incident as "abhorrent and a grave violation ofinternational humanitarian law".

"All indications currently point to the bombing being carried out by international Coalition forces,"MSF said.

A spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, Col Brian Tribus, said on Saturday that US forces

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had conducted an air strike in Kunduz "against individuals threatening the force" at the sametime.

He added: "The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility."

President Obama expressed his "deepest condolences" for the deaths in a White Housestatement.

He added: "The Department of Defense has launched a full investigation, and we will await theresults of that inquiry before making a definitive judgment as to the circumstances of thistragedy."

Read more on the battle for Kunduz:

The significance of Kunduz lies in its strategic location at the centre of drug-smugglingroutes

Residents' tales of fighting in Kunduz

In pictures: How Kunduz 'recapture' unfolded

Crucial capture: Taliban's biggest victory since 2001

Who are the Taliban? A guide to the complexities and conflicts within the militant group

Taliban selfies: The militants posing for pictures as they seized the city

MSF nurse Lajos Zoltan Jecs was sleeping at the facility when it was hit. "It was absolutelyterrifying," he said.

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He saw a fellow nurse "covered in blood, with wounds all over his body", a statement issued byMSF said.

Mr Jecs and other staff went outside when the bombing stopped. "What we saw was the hospitaldestroyed. We tried to take a look into one of the burning buildings. There are no words for howterrible it was. In the intensive care unit six patients were burning in their beds."

The Afghan interior ministry said a group of 10 to 15 militants had been hiding in the hospital.

The Taliban denied that any of its fighters were there.

A Taliban statement described the air strikes which hit the hospital as "deliberate", and carriedout by "the barbaric American forces".

There has been intense fighting in Kunduz since Taliban fighters swept into the northern city onMonday.

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