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KABUL. – The US air strikes during military operations in Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz province to evict Taliban militants from the city hit a hospital of an aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) on Saturday which left 19 people including staff members of the hospital dead and more than three dozen others injured, has been widely condemned at home and abroad.
MSF in a statement, besides demanding explanation from the US military has condemned the strike on the hospital in its strongest possible term.
“Twelve staff members and at least seven patients, including three children, were killed; 37 people were injured including 19 staff members,” the statement asserted.
The statement stressed that: “All indications currently point to the bombing being carried out by international coalition forces. MSF demands a full and transparent account from the coalition regarding its aerial bombing activities over Kunduz on Saturday morning. MSF also calls for an independent investigation of the attack to ensure maximum transparency and accountability,” the statement further said.
“This attack is abhorrent and a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” said Meinie Nicolai, MSF president in the statement, noting: “We demand total transparency from coalition forces. We cannot accept that this horrific loss of life will simply be dismissed as ‘collateral damage.”
MSF stated in the statement that from 2:08am local time until 3:15am local time Saturday, MSF’s trauma hospital in Kunduz was hit by a series of aerial bombing raids at approximately 15-minute intervals and the main central hospital building, housing the intensive care unit, emergency rooms, and physiotherapy ward, was repeatedly hit very precisely during each aerial raid, while surrounding buildings were left mostly untouched. – Xinhua.
Online Reporter