“The medical facility was misidentified as a target by USA personnel who believed they were striking a different building several hundred meters away where there were reports of combatants”, said John Campbell, commander of us forces in Afghanistan, in a Pentagon briefing from Afghanistan.
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Days before the attack, Doctors Without Borders had provided geographic coordinates of its hospital to USA military authorities, but the report said “this mission critical information” was never handed to the crew of the gunship. “The destruction of a protected facility without verifying the target – in this case a functioning hospital full of medical staff and patients – can not only be dismissed as individual human error or breaches of the USA rules of engagement”.
The aid group said the attack continued for more than an hour despite repeated calls to the military by staff members, and despite the hospital’s coordinates having been repeatedly sent to the USA command.
The investigation also points to a technical error in a mapping system that led US fighter jets to attack the wrong target. The investigation found in that the “reason for this tragedy was … avoidable human error, compounded by process & equipment failures”, Campbell stated.
The raid killed 30 people and forced Doctors without Borders (MSF) to close the trauma centre, the only one in the region, amid global outrage over the incident.
The attack claimed the life of 30 people, and US personnel involved in the decision, such as pilots and special operation soldiers, were suspended from service and may face disciplinary action. Especially Doctors Without Borders.
Campbell’s spokesman Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner refused to say if the U.S. probe would be followed by an additional independent global investigation, for which MSF has repeatedly called. He gave his condolences and said the USA military would offer to help rebuild the hospital. It took another 17 minutes – all the while, the attack was still going on – before commanders there realized there was a mistake.
“The U.S. version of events presented today leaves MSF with more questions than answers”. But “the crew remained fixated” on the hospital and did not rely on the grid location system, Campbell said.
“The physical description” of the intended targeted “provided by the Afghan SOF to the U.S. SOF commander roughly matched the description of the MSF trauma center as seen by the aircrew”, noted the general.
At least six civilians were killed Tuesday in two separate explosions in the capital of Afghanistan, while fighting erupted between security forces and the Taliban in Kunduz province.
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The report said investigators found no evidence that the Americans involved knew they were attacking a hospital.
