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Sunday 04 Oct 2015 - 13:21 Makkah mean time-21-12-1436
AFP photo
Kabul (IINA) – U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged a full investigation into an apparent US air strike on an Afghan hospital that killed 19 people, in a bombing the UN said could amount to a war crime, AFP reported.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said patients burned to death in their beds during a bombing raid that continued for half an hour after US and Afghan authorities were informed the hospital had been hit. "Twelve staff members and at least seven patients, including three children, were killed; 37 people were injured," MSF said, adding: "This attack constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law".
The air raid came days after Taliban fighters seized control of the strategic northern city of Kunduz, in their most spectacular victory since being booted from power by a US-led coalition in 2001.
Afghan forces, backed up by their NATO allies, claimed to have wrestled back control of the city. But the defense ministry in Kabul said "a group of armed terrorists... were using the hospital building as a position to target Afghan forces and civilians". MSF has denied any combatants were present in the hospital.
The charity said despite frantic calls to American and Afghan military officials in Kabul and Washington, the attack continued for another 30 minutes, with the main hospital building housing the intensive care unit and emergency rooms being targeted.
In a statement released by the White House, US President Barack Obama offered his "deepest condolences" for what he called a "tragic incident".
"The Department of Defense 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.
AB/IINA
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