US Airstrike Hits Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Afghanistan

A U.S. airstrike ripped through a hospital operated by an international humanitarian organization in the Afghan city of Kunduz as the government fought to regain control from the Taliban, which recently overran the provincial capital.

The airstrike took place at 2:15 a.m. local time and killed 19 people, including 12 employees of the hospital, which was run by Doctors Without Borders, according to The New York Times. The U.S. military confirmed its role in the strike and admitted there may have been collateral damage to the hospital as a result.

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani said that Gen. John F. Campbell, who oversees U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, had apologized for the accident, but the U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter said in a statement that an investigation into the matter was ongoing and made no mention of an apology.

On its website, Doctors Without Borders condemned the bombing by saying "MSF condemns in the strongest possible terms the horrific bombing of its hospital in Kunduz full of staff and patients. MSF wishes to clarify that all parties to the conflict, including in Kabul and Washington, were clearly informed of the precise location (GPS Coordinates) of the MSF facilities - hospital, guest-house, office and an outreach stabilization unit in Chardara (to the north-west of Kunduz). As MSF does in all conflict contexts, these precise locations were communicated to all parties on multiple occasions over the past months, including most recently on 29 September."

Fighting recently erupted in Kunduz when the Taliban seized control of the city from the Afghan government within the last week. It was the largest single gain for the group since the invasion of Afghanistan by the United States in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.