US Government to investigate air strikes that hit Afghan hospital

BARACK Obama has offered his sympathies after a suspected US bomb killed 19 people, including children, at a Doctors Without Borders Afghan hospital.

Injured, Doctors Without Borders staff are seen after an explosion near their hospital in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015. Nine local staffers for Doctors Without Borders were killed and 30 were missing after an explosion that may have been caused by a U.S. airstrike. In a statement, the international charity said the "sustained bombing" took place at 2:10 a.m. (2140 GMT). Afghan forces backed by U.S. airstrikes have been fighting to dislodge Taliban insurgents who overran Kunduz on Monday. (Médecins Sans Frontières via AP)

A “FULL investigation” is under way into a deadly bombing at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said, amid wide speculation that the incident was the result of a US air strike.

However Doctors Without Borders have called for an independent investigation, saying that “all indications” pointed to the international military coalition as responsible for the bloody bombing that killed 19 and injured dozens.

UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein called for a full and transparent probe, noting that, “an air strike on a hospital may amount to a war crime”.

“This event is utterly tragic, inexcusable and possibly even criminal,” he said.

US President Barack Obama has offered his sympathies in response to the tragedy.

“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,” he said in a statement released by the White House.

“The Department of Defence has launched a full investigation, and we will await the results of that inquiry before making a definitive judgment as to the circumstances of this tragedy,” Obama said.

Carter said that “US forces in support of Afghan Security Forces were operating nearby, as were Taliban fighters.”

The bombing killed 19 people, including 12 staff from the Doctors Without Borders nonprofit known by its French acronym MSF.

Thirty-seven were seriously wounded at the facility, a key lifeline that has been running “beyond capacity” during fighting that saw the Taliban seize control of the northern provincial capital for several days.

Chaotic scenes ... About 200 people were in the hospital when the bombing started. Picture: Médecins Sans Frontières via AFP

“A full investigation into the tragic incident is under way in coordination with the Afghan government,” Carter said in a statement.

He added that the United States would “continue to work with our Afghan partners to try and end the ongoing violence in and around Kunduz.”

The early Saturday strike left the building engulfed in flames, with photos posted by MSF showing its staff shocked and dazed.

The charity said the bombing continued for more than 30 minutes after US and Afghan military officials were first alerted that the hospital was being hit.

NATO conceded that US forces may have been behind the strike but has not so far commented on the specific claims of MSF, which has long treated the war-wounded from all sides of the conflict.

The incident has renewed concerns about the use of US air strikes in Afghanistan, a deeply contentious issue in the 14-year campaign against Taliban insurgents.

In shock ... Doctors Without Borders staff are pictured after their hospital is bombed. Nine staff members were killed and others were missing after an explosion that may have been caused by a U.S. air strike. Picture: Médecins Sans Frontières via AP

Doctors left shocked

Photos posted by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) showed staff shocked and dazed.

“At 2:10 am (2040 GMT) local time... the MSF trauma centre in Kunduz was hit several times during sustained bombing and was very badly damaged,” the organisation said.

“Twelve staff members and at least seven patients, including three children, were killed; 37 people were injured. This attack constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law.”

“All parties to the conflict, including in Kabul and Washington, were clearly informed of the precise location (GPS coordinates) of the MSF facilities,” the statement added.

Doctor Shafiq Musadeq choked back tears as he recalled how bombs pounded a hospital in the city of Kunduz on Saturday, killing his colleagues who offered life-saving treatment to the war-wounded from all sides of Afghanistan’s wrenching conflict.

The bombardment, which came days after Taliban militants overran the city, reduced a part of the facility to smouldering rubble and left surviving doctors and patients reeling with shock.

“I was inside the hospital, working well into the night with other doctors to treat a growing number of patients with war injuries,” said Musadeq, an Afghan doctor who survived the devastating strike.

In flames ... Fire is seen inside a Medecins Sans Frontiere hospital building after an air strike. Picture: Médecins Sans Frontières/AP

“Suddenly thunderous explosions struck and it felt like the sky was falling down.

“I can’t believe all the faithful doctors who worked night and day to save people’s live are now gone,” he told AFP by telephone, breaking down in tears.

MSF said some 105 patients and their caregivers, as well as more than 80 international and local MSF staff, were in the hospital at the time of the bombing.

“The bombs hit and then we heard the plane circle round,” said Heman Nagarathnam, MSF’s head of programmes in northern Afghanistan.

“There was a pause, and then more bombs hit. This happened again and again. Those people that could had moved quickly to the building’s two bunkers to seek safety. But patients who were unable to escape burned to death as they lay in their beds.” The MSF facility is a key medical lifeline to civilians trapped in a deepening vortex of violence amid a large-scale Taliban offensive in Kunduz province.

The hospital was operating “beyond capacity” to treat patients wounded in recent intense battles after the Taliban captured the city for several days.

In a show of heroic resilience, despite the bombing, surgeries resumed in a makeshift operation theatre in an undamaged part of the hospital, a photo posted by MSF on Twitter showed.

“We are doctors, we save people’s lives. I had never thought we would become targets ourselves,” said Musadeq.

Saving their own ... Surgeons work inside a Doctors Without Borders hospital after an air strike in the city of Kunduz, Afghanistan. Picture: Reuters/Medecins Sans Frontieres/Handout via Reuters

Searching for missing loved ones

The soot-blackened building that was bombed was filled with the smell of burning flesh and some bodies were charred beyond recognition, said Qiamudeen, a 31-year-old shopkeeper whose neighbour was killed in the strike.

“I was shocked, emotional and in tears when I reached the hospital,” Qiamudeen, who goes by one name, told AFP.

Many Kunduz residents were too afraid to leave their homes to check on wounded relatives because of sporadic firefights between troops and Taliban militants.

But in a video that was widely shared on Facebook, one anxious young man looking for his brother broke down.

“Where is my brother Doctor Naseer? He works at this hospital and his cellphone is off,” the man asks after looking around in the compound.

“He might have been taken to another hospital (for treatment),” responds another man.

The man wells up with tears and says: “No, he was here, right here in this hospital last night. Now I can’t find him.”

“We are deeply shocked by the attack, the killing of our staff ... and the heavy toll it has inflicted on healthcare in Kunduz,” MSF director of operations Bart Janssens said.

“We do not yet have the final casualty figures but our medical team are providing first aid and treating the injured patients. We urge all parties to respect the safety of health facilities and staff.” The International Committee of the Red Cross said the strike was “an appalling tragedy”.