Kabul - A day after President Barack Obama
apologized for a tragic U.S. airstrike that killed at
least 22 people at a hospital run by Doctors Without
Borders in northern Afghanistan, the medical
charity said Thursday it is continuing to press its
demand for an independent investigation of the
incident.
The Oct. 3 airstrike took place as Afghan forces
were fighting to retake the strategic northern city
of Kunduz, which was overrun and briefly held last
week by the Taliban. The insurgents, who have been
massing around the city for months, launched a
multi-pronged attack that took authorities by
surprise.
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Obama on Wednesday apologized to the
organization and said the U.S. would examine
military procedures to look for better ways to
prevent such incidents.
But scarce details on the erroneous strike have only
fueled growing condemnation by MSF, as the charity
is known under its French acronym, and other aid
groups. Along with a dozen hospital staffers, 10
patients were also killed in the strike, which is likely
to complicate delicate U.S. efforts in Afghanistan.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday in Kabul, MSF's
general director, Christopher Stokes, reiterated the
group's demand for the probe, saying it would be
important and a precedent for non-government
organizations working in conflict zones worldwide.
Stokes said MSF wanted the Swiss-based
International Humanitarian Fact-Finding
Commission which is made up of diplomats, legal
experts, doctors and some former military officials
from nine European countries, including Britain and
Russia "to get the facts of what happened, the
truth."
Created after the Gulf War in 1991, the IHFFC has
never deployed a fact-finding mission.
Stokes said MSF a Nobel Peace Prize-winning
organization that provides medical aid in conflict
zones is awaiting responses to letters sent Tuesday
to 76 countries that signed the additional protocol
to the Geneva Conventions, asking to mobilize the
15-member commission.
For the IHFFC to be mobilized, a single country
would have to call for the fact-finding mission, and
the U.S. and Afghanistan which are not signatories
must also give their consent.
"It would show a distinct lack of courage if none of
the 76 signatories come forward," Stokes said.
On the ground in Kunduz, the MSF hospital was no
longer operational, putting a severe burden on the
city. Of the 105 patients who were there at the
time of the airstrike, nine have yet to be accounted
for; and of a total of 461 staff, 24 are still missing,
said Guilhem Molinie, MSF's representative in
Afghanistan.
MSF believes there are still 24 bodies in the debris
of the building, he added. Three children among
the 10 patients who perished were members of the
same family, admitted the night before the
bombing after their car came under fire, Molinie
added.
Government forces continued to battle Thursday to
clear insurgents from Kunduz areas. Humanitarian
supplies were still not reaching the city in adequate
quantities, according to Sarwar Hussaini, a
provincial police spokesman. Police were helping
with some food distribution, he added.
House-to-house searches are continuing as securing
forces seek to eliminate remaining pockets of
insurgents hidden in the city, said provincial police
chief Mohammad Qasim Janghalbagh. He said
searches had led to the arrest on Thursday of 13
armed Taliban.
Some roads into Kunduz have reopened but the
Taliban have been hijacking trucks delivering food
and medicines, said civil society activist Zabihullah
Majidi. He said medicines purchased with money
raised by civil society groups have been destroyed
by Taliban on the road from Balkh province, while
150 cartons made it through.
The U.N.'s office in Kabul said Thursday that the
humanitarian situation in Kunduz is deteriorating,
with many residents lacking "access to food and
water." There were conflicting reports on whether
the airport, the scene of fierce battles when Taliban
overran the city, was open.
According to U.N. estimates, there were up to
150,000 people remaining in Kunduz, a city with a
population of 300,000.
- AP
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