Afghan government claims terrorists were hiding in hospital hit by air strike

The medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres says an air strike that hit a hospital in northern Afghanistan went on for at least half an hour after they alerted the Afghan and US forces of their location.

At least 12 MSF staff, four adult patients and three children died, MSF said on Twitter – raising an earlier estimate of the death toll.


The clinic is in Kunduz, a provincial capital that has been the scene of fierce clashes in recent days between Taliban and Afghan forces with NATO back-up.

On Saturday the Afghan government spoke about the incident.

“Ten to fifteen terrorists were hiding in the hospital last night and it came under attack,” said Sediq Seddiqi, Spokesperson for Afghan Interior Ministry. “Well, they are killed, all of the terrorists are killed, but we also lost doctors. We will do everything we can to make sure doctors are safe and can do their jobs.”

US forces in Afghanistan said they conducted an airstrike on Kunduz and that it “may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility.”

The spokesman added that the incident was under investigation.

Afghan forces backed by US airstrikes have been fighting to dislodge Taliban insurgents who overran Kunduz on Monday.

MSF said at least a hundred patients were in the hospital at the time of the strike.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2015-10-04

Unbelievable that the US goal is to kill terrorists at any cost. It is a good job that America does not judge itself on human rights. How can you justify knowingly attacking a hospital with doctors and sick patients in it. Unbelievable!

Accidentally bombing an MSF hospital facility is bad but, if this report is correct, to bomb it knowingly is nothing short of a war crime.

And they accuse Russia of similar crimes in Syria! Total hypocrisy.

"“Ten to fifteen terrorists were hiding in the hospital last night and it came under attack,” said Sediq Seddiqi, Spokesperson for Afghan Interior Ministry"

Come now.... that's just out and out plagiarism. Netanyahu will be disappointed.

Not enough information has come out and frankly probably never will. It is being investigated. The bombing continued for 30 minutes after commands were notified that the attack was on a hospital. Everybody had coordinates on it and had recently been briefed with confirmation of coordinates. The Air Force knew exactly where it was. This and the statement by Sediq Seddiqi, Spokesperson for Afghan Interior Ministry are pretty damning. There have also been indications in the past that Doctors Without Borders were not too popular with the US government. One way or the other, this attack does not make sense, well any moral sense. If this proves to be a purposeful attack on a hospital, those responsible should face war crimes. I think we all know that won't happen, Cheney/Bush et al are still not in GitMo where they belong.

They've already lost this war. The Taliban were always going to move back in as soon as the US pulls out.

The US should cut its losses and remove every US soldier from Afghanistan.

It's not like they can't bomb it from a distance.

It's was always going to be a colossal waste of money and lives.

Classified diplomatic cables lay bare the extent of corruption at the highest level in Afghanistan, with cash apparently pouring out of the country.

One report claims former vice-president Ahmad Zia Massoud flew into Dubai with $52million in cash and was never asked to explain where it came from.

Some 70 years ago the Americans came up with Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), because the were shelling their own guys in WWII... never stopped them killing their allies or innocent civilians.

Off-topic posts and replies removed.

Yes , but in their defence ; the "terrorists" were wearing weddingparty clothes ....