KABUL, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The international aid agency, M decins Sans Frontires (MSF), on Wednesday once again repeated its call for conducting impartial investigation by International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC) on U.S. air strikes against its hospital in Afghan northern Kunduz city on Oct. 3, which left dozens of people dead and injured.
"MSF cannot rely only on the ongoing internal investigations by parties on the conflict and remains firm in its call for an independent and impartial investigation by the IHFFC," the statement said.
Taliban militants captured Kunduz city, capital of Kunduz province 250 km north of Kabul, on Sept. 29 and the U.S. military, which supports Afghan forces in efforts to dislodge militants conducted air strikes that erroneously struck MSF-run hospital killing 22 people including medical staff, patients, injured 37 others and left over dozens missing.
The attack has drawn wide condemnation. U.S. president rendered apology and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for impartial investigation on the tragic incident. "We have received apologies and condolences, but this is not enough. We are still in the dark about why a well-known hospital full of patients and medical staff was repeatedly bombarded for more than an hour,"said MSF International President Dr Joanne Liu. "We need to understand what happened and why." "We need to know if the rules of war have changed, not just for Kunduz, but for the safety of our teams working in frontline hospitals all over the world,"said Liu in the statement.
The U.S. airstrikes have destroyed the main building of MSF's Trauma Centre in Kunduz and the hospital is no longer operational. This left tens of thousands of people without access to emergency medical and surgical care in a city devastated by weeks of intense fighting.
The IHFFC has sent letters to the governments of the United States and Afghanistan officially offering the commission's services and awaits their response, the statement added.
