US bombs hospital in Afghanistan

[Swift]

The dead included seven patients from the intensive care unit, among them three children, and nine local MSF staff, the organization said. A total of 37 people, including 19 staff and 18 patients and caretakers, were injured, five of them critically. Another 30 people were still missing after the incident, MSF said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/afghani...rike-1.3255546

The UN is calling it a possible war crime, the US admits they dropped bombs which "may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility."

[Street Pharmacist]

If Russia did this, or Iran, or Syria, the US would care

[Looch City]

"Collateral damage"

[sharkov]

Russia Today is probably having a field day over this

[Huntingwhale]

Terrorists strike again

[calculoso]

Unbelievably horrible. Can't wait to hear how they try to get out of this one.

[worth]

n Kunduz, the acting governor, Hamdullah Danishi, also suggested that the airstrike was warranted.

He said Taliban fighters had been using the Doctors Without Borders compound to plot and carry out attacks across the city, including firing rocket-propelled grenades from the property.

“The hospital campus was 100 percent used by the Taliban,” Danishi said. “The hospital has a vast garden, and the Taliban were there. We tolerated their firing for some time” before responding.

Danishi said the suspected U.S. airstrike had been aimed along the perimeter of the hospital grounds. He said the main hospital building, where most of the causalities occurred, caught fire but was not the main target.

Doctors Without Borders strongly disputed suggestions that any Taliban fighters were inside the hospital at the time of the attack.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...205_story.html

Looks like the Afghans call in a lot of airstrikes, and they called this one in. But it seems like they're not always on the same page as the western powers. Possibly they did not like MSF treating taliban fighters and called in the airstrikes for that reason. Who knows, but it's not so cut and dry.

[Swift]

So, the US has changed its story yet again...

US special operations forces – not their Afghan allies – called in the deadly airstrike on the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, the US commander has conceded.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...-changes-again

From the same link...

How the story shifted

3 October
“U.S. forces conducted an airstrike in Kunduz city at 2:15am (local), Oct. 3, against individuals threatening the force. The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility.”
Colonel Brian Tribus, spokesman for US Forces-Afghanistan


4 October
“U.S. forces conducted an airstrike in Kunduz city at 2:15am (local), Oct. 3, against insurgents who were directly firing upon U.S. service members advising and assisting Afghan Security Forces in the city of Kunduz. The strike was conducted in the vicinity of a Doctors Without Borders medical facility.”
Colonel Brian Tribus, spokesman for US Forces-Afghanistan


5 October
“We have now learned that on October 3rd, Afghan forces advised that they were taking fire from enemy positions and asked for air support from U.S. forces. An airstrike was then called to eliminate the Taliban threat and several civilians were accidentally struck. This is different from initial reports which indicated that U.S. forces were threatened and that the airstrike was called on their behalf.”
General John Campbell, commander, US Forces-Afghanistan and Nato's Operation Resolute Support


6 October
“Even though the Afghans request that support, it still has to go through a rigorous US procedure to enable fires to go on the ground. We had a special operations unit that was in close vicinity that was talking to the aircraft that delivered those fires.”
General John Campbell, commander, US Forces-Afghanistan and Nato's Operation Resolute Support

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm having a lot of trouble with the story here as it shifts from accidental to unfortunate collateral damage to deliberate targeting of a compound with a medical facility.

If there were special forces members targeting there, I would have to assume that they knew that medical facility was there.