MSF demands independent inquiry into Kunduz ‘war crime’

Médecins Sans Frontières has demanded that an independent international body investigate the air strike that hit an Afghan hospital on Saturday, killing 22 people. An official said the group could not rely on a US military investigation that has been launched into the destruction of the hospital during fighting in the northern city of Kunduz.

“Under the clear presumption that a war crime has been committed, MSF demands that a full and transparent investigation into the event be conducted by an independent international body,” MSF general director Christopher Stokes said in a statement. “Relying only on an internal investigation by a party to the conflict would be wholly insufficient,” his statement added.

MSF, which did not specify which international body would be acceptable, also raised the death toll from 19 to 22 staff and patients killed.

Earlier US president Barack Obama said the US has begun a "full investigation" into the strikes. The US military said a strike targeting Taliban in the northern city of Kunduz may have caused "collateral damage".

Mr Obama offered his “deepest condolences” and said he expected a “full accounting of the facts” before making a judgment.

UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein led a chorus of condemnation, without saying who carried out the strike, noting that an assault on a hospital could amount to a war crime. “This event is utterly tragic, inexcusable, and possibly even criminal,” he said.

US secretary general Ban Ki-moon called for a thorough and impartial investigation "in order to ensure accountability."

The medical charity said its staff phoned military officials at Nato in Kabul and Washington during the morning attack, but bombs continued to fall for nearly an hour.

“All indications currently point to the bombing being carried out by international Coalition forces,” MSF said, demanding “a full and transparent account”.

Medical charity MSF said it had given the location of the hospital to both Afghan and US forces several times in the past few months, most recently this week, to avoid being caught in crossfire.

Grave violation

MSF president Meinie Nicolai described the incident as “abhorrent and a grave violation of international humanitarian law”.

“All indications currently point to the bombing being carried out by international coalition forces,” MSF said.

The bombardment destroyed much of the compound in Kunduz.

The hospital had treated hundreds of people injured after the northern city fell to a dramatic Taliban attack last week, and when government troops launched an assault to reclaim it.

Beds and corridors were full of patients and their relatives when it was hit in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The US military has said it conducted an air strike “in the vicinity” of the hospital as it targeted Taliban insurgents who were directly firing on US military personnel.

It said the investigation would provide “a full accounting of the facts and circumstances” of the incident.

"On behalf of the American people, I extend my deepest condolences to the medical professionals and other civilians killed and injured in the tragic incident at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz," Mr Obama said in the White House statement.

The Afghan ministry of defence said in a statement that Taliban fighters had attacked the hospital and were using the building “as a human shield”. It said during the firefight, a rocket landed close to the hospital, wounding civilians.

MSF denied that Taliban fighters were firing from the hospital.

At the charred remains of aid group's facility, one wall of a building had collapsed, scattering fragments of glass and wooden door frames, and three rooms were ablaze, Saad Mukhtar, director of public health in Kunduz, said.

“Thick black smoke could be seen rising from some of the rooms,” he said after a visit to the hospital. “The fighting is still going on, so we had to leave.”

Afghan government forces backed by US air power have fought to drive the Taliban out of the northern provincial capital since the militants seized it six days ago, in the biggest victory of their near 14-year insurgency.

The battle in Kunduz comes just as the United States is weighing whether to slow a drawdown of the nearly 10,000 US forces in Afghanistan.

Reuters / Agencies