Medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres on Sunday demanded an independent international inquiry into a suspected US airstrike that killed 22 people in an Afghan hospital it runs, branding the attack a “war crime”.
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter promised a full investigation into whether the American military was connected to the destruction of the hospital, but cautioned it would take time to gather information, Reuters reports.
“We do know that American air assets ... were engaged in the Kunduz vicinity, and we do know that the structures that were destroyed,” Carter told reporters traveling with him shortly before landing in Spain on Sunday. “I just can’t tell you what the connection is at this time.”
The Pentagon chief would not speculate on what occurred but said Washington would hold accountable “anybody responsible for doing something they shouldn’t have done.”
MSF said a US military probe into the incident, which occurred during a push by Afghan security forces to retake the key northern city of Kunduz from Taliban insurgents, was not enough.
“Relying only on an internal investigation by a party to the conflict would be wholly insufficient,” MSF General Director Christopher Stokes said in a statement.
“Under the clear presumption that a war crime has been committed, MSF demands that a full and transparent investigation into the event be conducted by an independent international body,” Stokes said.
