At least nine Doctors Without Borders staff killed in apparent US airstrike
At least nine Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) aid workers were killed in an apparent US air strike on an Afghan hospital, up from an earlier death toll of three.
US forces in Afghanistan said they conducted an airstrike in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz at 2.15am local time.
US Army Col Brian Tribus, said the strike “may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility” and that the incident was under investigation.
Col Tribus said it was the 12th US airstrike in the Kunduz vicinity since Tuesday. Afghan forces backed by US airstrikes have been fighting to dislodge Taliban insurgents who overran Kunduz on Monday.
Director of Médecins Sans Frontières in Ireland Jane-Anne McKenna said all sides were warned about the location of the hospital in advance of the airstrikes.
Doctors Without Borders said its trauma centre “was hit several times during sustained bombing and was very badly damaged”. At the time of the bombing, the hospital had 105 patients and their care-workers, and more than 80 international and Afghan staff were present, it said.
Wahidullah Mayar, spokesman for the Public Health Ministry, tweeted that 37 people were wounded in the explosion, among them 24 medical and non-medical staff. Some staff are still missing.
Journalist Sune Engel Rasmussen in the Afghan capital Kabul said: "This facility is in the middle of Kunduz. It's been there for several years. Two days ago, MSF issued a statement saying they were on the frontline of the fighting, so it's not like people weren't aware there was a hospital in the area."
