Survivors of US bombing reject Pentagon findings
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford hold a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, March 25, 2016. Survivors of a US bombing in an Afghanistan medical facility have rejected Pentagon findings about the incident. PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
The Pentagon on Friday published a report of its investigation into the air strike, saying troops involved would not face war crimes charges.
The bombing last October came as US special forces were deployed to Kunduz alongside Afghan troops in order to recapture the northern city from the Taliban.
Despite no fire coming from the hospital, an AC-130 gunship turned its enormous firepower on the target, pummelling it repeatedly.
KABUL, Saturday
Survivors of a US air strike on a hospital in Afghanistan have called for those responsible to go on trial and dismissed an American investigation that said the bombardment did not amount to a war crime.
The attack on the hospital run by medical charity Doctors Without Borders in the city of Kunduz last October left 42 people dead and sparked global outrage, making President Barack Obama make a rare apology.
The Pentagon on Friday published a report of its investigation into the air strike, saying troops involved would not face war crimes charges.
“They should be publicly put on trial,” Hamdullah, a 27-year-old who lost his uncle in the attack and worked in the laundry at the hospital, said.
“This was a deliberate bombardment by the American forces, and we are not satisfied that they have said this was not a war crime. This is unacceptable,” Hamdullah, who goes by one name, said.
The bombing last October came as US special forces were deployed to Kunduz alongside Afghan troops in order to recapture the northern city from the Taliban, who had overrun it in one of their dramatic successes of the war.
Despite no fire coming from the hospital, an AC-130 gunship turned its enormous firepower on the target, pummelling it repeatedly.
Doctors Without Borders branded the strike a war crime, saying the raid left patients burning in their beds with some decapitated.
