From what I read and heard the last few days, I changed the headline to a “deliberate” attack on the MSF hospital in Kunduz.
From the post by Marie3, read the UPDATE written by Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept:
The Radically Changing Story of the U.S. Airstrike on Afghan Hospital: From Mistake to Justification
UPDATE 2: LIAR!!
Gen. Campbell changes storyline for 4th time in four days!
Commander of war in Afghanistan tells Senate panel that US forces had called in airstrike at Afghan request – ‘an admission of a war crime’ says MSF chief.
See my comment added below …
○ Gen. Campbell Changes Story Before Senate Armed Forces Panel
○ UN: Independent inquiry into Kunduz hospital bombing would be premature | Deutsche Welle |
Afghanistan: MSF Staff Killed, Hospital Partially Destroyed in Kunduz | MSF |
AFGHANISTAN: MSF INFORMED ALL FIGHTING PARTIES OF GPS COORDINATES
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) condemns in the strongest possible terms the horrific bombing of its hospital in Kunduz, which was full of staff and patients. MSF wishes to clarify that all parties to the conflict, including in Kabul and Washington, were clearly informed of the precise location (GPS Coordinates) of the MSF facilities in Kunduz, including the hospital, guesthouse, office and an outreach stabilization unit in Chardara northwest of Kunduz.
As it does in all conflict contexts, MSF communicated the precise locations of its facilities to all parties on multiple occasions over the past months, including most recently on September 29.
The bombing in Kunduz continued for more than 30 minutes after American and Afghan military officials in Kabul and Washington were first informed by MSF that its hospital was struck. MSF urgently seeks clarity on exactly what took place and how this terrible event could have happened.
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Tragic, terrible news this morning as nine MSF staff are confirmed dead and nineteen wounded after the MSF trauma centre in Kunduz, Afghanistan, was hit several times and badly damaged during sustained bombing at 2.10am on Saturday 3 October.© MSFUPDATE ON HOSPITAL BOMBING CASUALTIES:
It is with deep sadness that we confirm so far the death of nine MSF staff members during the bombing last night of MSF’s hospital in Kunduz. Latest casualty figures report 37 people seriously wounded, of whom 19 are MSF staff. Some of the most critically injured are being transferred for stabilization to a hospital in Puli Khumri, two hours’ drive away. There are many patients and staff who remain unaccounted for. The numbers may grow as a clearer picture develops of the aftermath of this horrific bombing.
“Unspeakable”: An MSF Nurse Recounts the Attack on MSF’s Kunduz Hospital | MSF |
At first there was confusion, and dust settling. As we were trying to work out what was happening, there was more bombing.
After 20 or 30 minutes, I heard someone calling my name. It was one of the Emergency Room nurses. He staggered in with massive trauma to his arm. He was covered in blood, with wounds all over his body.
At that point my brain just couldn’t understand what was happening. For a second I was just stood still, shocked.
He was calling for help. In the safe room, we have a limited supply of basic medical essentials, but there was no morphine to stop his pain. We did what we could.
I don’t know exactly how long, but it was maybe half an hour afterwards that they stopped bombing. I went out with the project coordinator to see what had happened.
What we saw was the hospital destroyed, burning. I don’t know what I felt, just shock again.
We went to look for survivors. A few had already made it to one of the safe rooms. One by one, people started appearing, wounded, including some of our colleagues and caretakers of patients.
We tried to take a look into one of the burning buildings. I cannot describe what was inside. There are no words for how terrible it was. In the Intensive Care Unit six patients were burning in their beds.
We looked for some staff that were supposed to be in the operating theater. It was awful. A patient there on the operating table, dead, in the middle of the destruction. We couldn’t find our staff. Thankfully we later found that they had run out from the operating theater and had found a safe place.
Just nearby, we had a look in the inpatient department. Luckily untouched by the bombing. We quickly checked that everyone was OK. And in a safe bunker next door, also everyone inside was OK.
And then back to the office. Full, patients, wounded, crying out, everywhere.
It was crazy. We had to organize a mass casualty plan in the office, seeing which doctors were alive and available to help. We did an urgent surgery for one of our doctors. Unfortunately he died there on the office table. We did our best, but it wasn’t enough.
The whole situation was very hard. We saw our colleagues dying. Our pharmacist…I was just talking to him last night and planning the stocks, and then he died there in our office.
US military confirms air strikes in vicinity “targeting Taliban insurgents” | France24 |
An air strike, probably carried out by U.S.-led coalition forces, killed 19 staff and patients on Saturday, including three children, in a hospital run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, the aid group said.
The U.S. military said it conducted an air strike “in the vicinity” of the hospital as it targeted Taliban insurgents who were directly firing on U.S. military personnel. It said an investigation had begun, while the White House said in a statement that it expects “a full accounting of the facts and circumstances” of the incident.
U.N. condemns targeting of only hospital in North Afghanistan
U.N. Human Rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein led a chorus of condemnation, without saying who carried out the strike, noting that an assault on a hospital could amount to a war crime. “This event is utterly tragic, inexcusable, and possibly even criminal,” he said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a thorough and impartial investigation “in order to ensure accountability.”
MSF Hospital Overwhelmed With Wounded After Heavy Fighting in Kunduz | Sept. 29, 2015 |
A Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) trauma hospital has been overwhelmed with wounded patients since heavy fighting between government and opposition forces engulfed Kunduz city on Monday.
Since early Monday morning, MSF’s medical teams have treated 171 wounded people, including 46 children. Fifty patients arrived in critical condition. The majority of patients had sustained gunshot wounds and surgeons have been treating severe abdominal, limb, and head injuries.
“The hospital is inundated with patients,” said Guilhem Molinie, MSF’s country representative in Afghanistan. “We have quickly increased the number of beds from 92 to 110 to cope with the unprecedented level of admissions, but people keep arriving. We have 130 patients spread throughout the wards, in the corridors and even in offices. With the hospital reaching its limit and fighting continuing, we are worried about being able to cope with any new influx of wounded.”
MSF’s international and Afghan medical team has been working nonstop to provide the best possible care, performing 43 surgeries late into the night on Monday. Wounded patients continued to arrive today and critical patients were also referred to the hospital from MSF’s stabilization clinic in Chardara District, about 10 miles away.
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MSF trucks carry urgently needed medicines and medical supplies from Kabul to Kunduz. © MSFUrgently needed medical supplies and medicines have been sent by road and air to Kunduz in order to guarantee continuity of care for patients in the hospital and to prepare for any additional influx of wounded.
“We are in contact with all parties to the conflict and have received assurances that our medical personnel, patients, hospital and ambulances will be respected,” said Molinie. “With the government provincial hospital not currently functioning, MSF’s hospital is now the only place in Kunduz where people in need of urgent trauma care can receive it.”
MSF’s hospital is the only facility of its kind in the whole northeastern region of Afghanistan, providing free life- and limb-saving trauma care. MSF doctors treat all people according to their medical needs and do not make distinctions based on a patient’s ethnicity, religious beliefs or political affiliation.
MSF began working in Afghanistan in 1980.
President Barack Obama has offered his sympathies over the bombing of a hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz that killed 19 people, promising a full investigation.
Obama said the US was investigating the incident, in which 19 people were killed and 37 injured on Saturday during a bombing on a hospital operated by medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Kunduz.
“On behalf of the American people, I extend my deepest condolences to the medical professionals and other civilians killed and injured in the tragic incident at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz,” he said in a statement released by the White House.
“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.
“We will continue to work closely with President [Ashraf] Ghani, the Afghan government and our international partners to support the Afghan National Defense and Security forces as they work to secure their country.”
- ○ Statement by the President on the Casualties in Kunduz
○ Pentagon statement by Ashley Carter on deadly air strikes at 15 min intervals on hospital
○ EU Commissioner urges all parties to abide by International Law that protects hosptal facilities
As of this moment, the tragedy of the Kunduz hospital bombing has not found its way on the White House News page of the website. Some msm outlets in Europe have already written the bombing targeted Taliban fighters holed-up in the Kunduz hospital. A defense not unknown from the illegal Iraq War or the Israeli devastating bombing of the Gaza Palestinian civilians.