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Pentagon to pay compensation over Afghan hospital bombing
US military says it will address consequences of ‘tragic incident’, which killed at least 22 staff and patients of Doctors Without Borders
Sunday 11 October 2015 01.07 BST
The Pentagon has announced it will pay compensation to families of those killed and the injured from US air strikes on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz.
The group, known by its French acronym MSF, has demanded an independent international investigation. It says 33 people are still missing after the 3 October attack in addition to 12 MSF staff and 10 patients already confirmed dead.
“The Department of Defence believes it is important to address the consequences of the tragic incident,” said Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook, adding that US Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A) also had the authority to pay for repairs to the hospital.
“One step the department can take is to make condolence payments to civilian non-combatants injured and the families of civilian non-combatants killed as a result of US military operations.”
Cook said USFOR-A would determine “appropriate payments” through discussions with those affected.
The attack caused MSF to close the trauma centre, seen as a lifeline in a war-battered region with scant medical care.
The strike in the days after the Taliban overran the city, with many residents wounded after pitched street battles.
Barack Obama has apologised to MSF, admitting the strike was a mistake.
Three separate probes – by the US military, NATO and Afghan officials – are under way.
The charity, which has condemned the attack as a war crime, is stressing the need for an international investigation, saying the bombing raid contravened the Geneva conventions.
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A survivor of US air strikes on the MSF hospital in Kunduz.
Photograph: Mohammad Ismail/Reuters
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US military says it will address consequences of ‘tragic incident’, which killed at least 22 staff and patients of Doctors Without Borders
Sunday 11 October 2015 01.07 BST
The Pentagon has announced it will pay compensation to families of those killed and the injured from US air strikes on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz.
The group, known by its French acronym MSF, has demanded an independent international investigation. It says 33 people are still missing after the 3 October attack in addition to 12 MSF staff and 10 patients already confirmed dead.
“The Department of Defence believes it is important to address the consequences of the tragic incident,” said Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook, adding that US Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A) also had the authority to pay for repairs to the hospital.
“One step the department can take is to make condolence payments to civilian non-combatants injured and the families of civilian non-combatants killed as a result of US military operations.”
Cook said USFOR-A would determine “appropriate payments” through discussions with those affected.
The attack caused MSF to close the trauma centre, seen as a lifeline in a war-battered region with scant medical care.
The strike in the days after the Taliban overran the city, with many residents wounded after pitched street battles.
Barack Obama has apologised to MSF, admitting the strike was a mistake.
Three separate probes – by the US military, NATO and Afghan officials – are under way.
The charity, which has condemned the attack as a war crime, is stressing the need for an international investigation, saying the bombing raid contravened the Geneva conventions.
c8e591fa-3c28-4738-bd9b-2f411850d1c7-102
A survivor of US air strikes on the MSF hospital in Kunduz.
Photograph: Mohammad Ismail/Reuters
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