KABUL, Afghanistan—Wounded Taliban fighters were being treated in a Doctors Without Borders hospital in northern Afghanistan that was bombed by U.S. forces last month, but there were no armed men or fighting in the area at the time, the charity said Thursday, as it released the results of an internal probe into the incident.
The report by the international medical charity, known by its French acronym MSF, confirmed that U.S. forces had the exact coordinates of the clinic before launching an aerial assault on Oct. 3 that killed 30 people, including doctors and patients.
The bombing lasted for more than an hour, during which time “patients burned in their beds, medical staff were decapitated and lost limbs, and others were shot by the circling AC130 gunship while fleeing the burning building,” the report says.
President Barack Obama apologized for the attack. The U.S. military said the airstrike, requested by Afghan forces, was a mistake.
But MSF general director Christopher Stokes said “a mistake is quite hard to believe and understand.” The report, based on interviews with around 60 MSF staff, confirmed earlier accounts by the group.
MSF treats anyone wounded in armed conflict without regard to political affiliation, Stokes said. He said a “no weapons” policy was upheld at the hospital in the northern city of Kunduz.
Acting Afghan Defense Minister Masoom Stanekzai, in a recent interview with The Associated Press, said the hospital was being used as a command center for Taliban militants who seized the city on Sept. 28. The militants held Kunduz for three days before being driven back by a government counteroffensive.
