An air strike hit a hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontièrs (Doctors Without Borders) in the Afghan city of Kunduz on Saturday, killing at least 19 people in what the U.S. military called possible “collateral damage” in the battle to oust Taliban insurgents.
Frantic MSF staff phoned military officials at NATO in Kabul and Washington after the attack, and bombs continued to rain down near the medical facility for nearly an hour, one official from the aid group said.
At least 37 people were wounded and many patients and staff still missing, it added.
The U.S. military promised to investigate the incident, which could renew concerns over the use of its air power in the conflict.
Afghan government forces backed by U.S. air power have fought to drive the Taliban out of the northern provincial capital since the militants seized it six days ago, in the biggest victory of their near 14-year insurgency.
One resident, Khodaidad, told Reuters the Taliban had been using the hospital buildings for cover during the fighting on Friday.
“I could hear sounds of heavy gunfire, explosions and airplanes throughout the night,” he added. “There were several huge explosions and it sounded like the roof was falling on me.”
“The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility ... This incident is under investigation,” Col. Brian Tribus, the spokesperson of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement.
At the aid group’s bombed-out hospital, one wall of a building had collapsed, scattering fragments of glass and wooden door frames, and three rooms were ablaze, said Saad Mukhtar, director of public health in Kunduz.
Almost 200 patients and employees were in the hospital, the only one in the region that can deal with major injuries, said MSF, which raised the death toll to at least 16 by late on Saturday. “We are deeply shocked by the attack, the killing of our staff and patients and the heavy toll it has inflicted on healthcare in Kunduz,” operations director Bart Janssens said.
MSF said it gave the location of the hospital to both Afghan and U.S. forces several times in the past few months, most recently this week, to avoid being caught in crossfire. The organisation said it has treated almost 400 patients in the 150-bed hospital since fighting broke out.