Thirty-three people are still missing five days after a catastrophic USA air strike on a hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz that has prompted global outrage, medical charity Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Thursday.
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At the time of the aerial attack on October 3, there were 105 patients and their caretakers in the hospital, alongside more than 80 global and Afghan MSF staff. MSF expresses its honest condolences to the families and friends of its staff members and patients who have tragically lost their lives in this attack.
It has-been referred to as a war crime, & might be the topic of a world investigation – still the US attack on a hospital run by Doctors With out Borders in Afghanistan is the topic of a intertwine of accounts.
General John Campbell, commander of the USA forces in Afghanistan, called the bombing a mistake.
Stokes said Doctors Without Borders wanted the Swiss-based worldwide Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission – which is made up of diplomats, legal experts, doctors and a few former military officials from nine European countries, including the United Kingdom and Russian Federation – “to get the facts of what happened, the truth”.
But Liu replied saying that it is not enough that the USA carries out its own investigation.
Most of the victims were in the emergency room, intensive care unit and blood lab. Patients in nearby wards, a few of them no more than 10 yards from the main building, were untouched, according to Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name, Mdecins Sans Frontires, and the initials MSF.
“Governments up to now have been too polite or afraid to set a precedent”, Dr. Joanne Liu, president of Doctors Without Borders told CNN.
“Our largest loss of life has occurred at the hands of American forces”, he said. “I was very pleased to hear ministers of defense from our North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies reaffirm their commitment, discussing not whether but how to continue the mission in Afghanistan”.
The Conventions lay out rules on conduct in armed conflict, mostly on protecting non-combatants.
MSF, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization that provides medical aid in conflict zones, is awaiting responses to letters it sent Tuesday to 76 countries that signed Article 90 of the additional protocol to the Geneva Conventions, seeking to mobilize the 15-member commission.
However, the death toll is likely to rise with nine patients and 24 staff unaccounted for and at least 24 bodies reported to be left in the abandoned hospital.
The United Nations called the strikes “inexcusable and possibly even criminal” with Secretary General Ban Ki Moon promising a thorough investigation. He said the lies and distortions of facts underscores the need for an independent inquiry. The IHFFC is set up for precisely this goal: to independently investigate violations of humanitarian law, such as attacks on hospitals, which are protected in conflict zones.
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“MSF’s decision to withdraw (from Kunduz), which is unfortunate but completely understandable, could have catastrophic consequences for civilians in the broader region,”said Michael Kugelman, senior programme associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center”.
