3 MSF workers killed in suspected U.S. airstrike on hospital in Afghanistan

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN)Airstrikes killed three staff workers of medical aid group Doctors Without Borders early Saturday in the Afghan city of Kunduz, the charity said. U.S. forces said they conducted airstrikes in the area.

At least 37 people were injured, including 24 of the medical aid organization's staff, the Afghan public health ministry tweeted.

Thirty people are unaccounted for, the aid organization said.

U.S. forces carried out a nearby strike early Saturday "against individuals threatening the force," Army spokesman Col. Brian Tribus said.

The strike "may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility," he said in a statement. The military is investigating.



Doctors w/o Borders Verified account ‏@MSF_USA
#MSF #Kunduz trauma center aflame after aerial attack this morn. Staff tending to patients, each other, in aftermath

"We do not yet have the final casualty figures, but our medical teams are providing first aid and treating the injured patients and MSF personnel," said Bart Janssens, operations director for the organization also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres.

When the aerial attack occurred, 105 patients and their caretakers were in the hospital. More than 80 MSF international and national staff were present.

Mourning and condemnation

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul expressed condolences in a statement on its Facebook page.

"The U.S. Embassy mourns for the individuals and families affected by the tragic incident at the Doctors without Borders hospital, and for all those suffering from the violence in Kunduz," it read. The embassy praised the group's work as "heroic."

The International Committee of the Red Cross condemned the bombing of the hospital.

"Such attacks against health workers and facilities undermine the capacity of humanitarian organizations to assist the Afghan people at a time when they most urgently need it," said Jean-Nicolas Marti, Head of the ICRC delegation in Afghanistan.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/03/asia/afghanistan-doctors-without-borders-hospital/

More and video on link.  MSF do a fantastic job, putting themselves in danger to help others.  Real heroes.

An airstrike on a hospital in Afghanistan, apparently launched by US forces, has killed at least 16 people including nine medical charity workers and three child patients.
Here is the Guardian’s latest story and here is what we know so far:

• The hospital, run by Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), in Kunduz, a city in northern Afghanistan, was hit several times and badly damaged during sustained bombing at 2.10am UTC on 3 October.
  
• The charity has confirmed 16 deaths, of whom nine were staff and seven were patients, and at least 37 wounded in the incident, of whom 19 were staff. At the time of the bombing, 105 patients and their carers, and more than 80 MSF international and national staff were in the hospital (see 3.46pm).
  
• None of the international doctors volunteering at the facility were hurt (see 9.41am).
  
• MSF claimed the GPS coordinates of the hospital had been widely circulated to all parties fighting in the conflict. It also alleged the bombing continued for up to 30 minutes after it raised the alarm with US and Afghan officials (see 10.32am)
  
• The US, which has been involved in airstrikes in the country in an attempt to repel Taliban fighters, said a strike on Kunduz may have caused “collateral damage” (see 8.20am).
  
• The head of US-led forces in Afghanistan, Army General John Campbell, apologised to President Ashraf Ghani, according to a spokesman for the Afghan President’s Office said (see 3.30pm).
  
• The bombings have drawn widespread condemnation from charity and human rights groups. Human Rights Watch said it had “grave concerns about whether US forces took sufficient precautions to identify and avoid striking the facility” (see 12.54pm)
  

http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/oct/03/msf-staff-killed-in-suspected-us-strike-on-afghan-hospital-latest

Latest: Source tells Guardian at least 20 aid workers dead



What the hell were they playing at, they knew the co-ordinates!

The Yanks had our co-ordinates in Vietnam, they still dropped ordinance on our position, no deaths but 5 injured.