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BEIJING, Oct.8 (Xinhuanet) -- The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders has held a news conference in Kabul. Representatives talked about the US airstrike on the MSF hospital in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan that killed at least 22 people, including 12 staff.
"Our staff have reported that there were no armed combatants or active fighting in or from the compound prior to the airstrike. In fact they reported that it was a relatively calm night. Statements alleging that the hospital had been regularly used as a base from which to launch armed attacks are baseless and entirely without merit," said Guilhem Molinie, Country Representative MSF Afghanistan.
The group said the attack on the hospital took place despite the fact that it had provided GPS co-ordinates of the trauma hospital to the coalition and to the Afghan military, as well as Afghan civilian officials and to the American political and military officials in both Kabul and in Washington.
The attack continued for more than 30 minutes after the aid group first informed US and Afghan military officials in Kabul and in Washington that the hospital was under fire.
The group has called the bombing a war crime and wants an independent international committee to investigate the attack.
U.S. President Barack Obama apologized to MSF International President Joanne Liu by telephone on Wednesday.
Obama claimed that the U.S. would provide "a transparent, thorough and objective accounting of the facts and circumstances of the incident." Investigations by the U.S., NATO and the Afghan government are underway.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
