Medecins
Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said it is "disgusted" by Afghan government
statements justifying an air strike on its hospital in Kunduz, calling
it an "admission of a war crime".
MSF said the statement implies US and Afghan forces decided to bomb the hospital because of claims Taliban members were inside.
The charity blames US-led Nato forces for Saturday's attack which killed at least 22 people, including MSF staff.
The US is investigating the incident.
Afghan
government forces, backed by the US-led coalition, have been engaged in
a battle to retake the northern city from Taliban fighters who seized
it last month.
'Raze to the ground'
On
Saturday the Afghan defence ministry said "armed terrorists" were using
the hospital "as a position to target Afghan forces and civilians".
MSF
said in a statement: "These statements imply that Afghan and US forces
working together decided to raze to the ground a fully functioning
hospital - with more than 180 staff and patients inside - because they
claim that members of the Taliban were present.
MSF says its workers reported no fighting inside the hospital before the attack
"This amounts to an admission of a war crime. This
utterly contradicts the initial attempts of the US government to
minimise the attack as 'collateral damage.'"
US
Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Sunday that a full, transparent
investigation would be conducted into whether the US military could be
linked to the attack.
MSF reiterated its demand for an independent investigation by an international body.
Twelve MSF staff members and 10 patients were killed when the hospital was hit.
Dozens
were injured and the hospital severely damaged by a series of air
strikes lasting more than an hour from 02:00 local time on Saturday
morning.
On its
Twitter feed,
MSF said: "The hospital was repeatedly and precisely hit during each
aerial raid, while the rest of the compound was left mostly untouched.
"Not
a single member of our staff reported any fighting inside the hospital
compound prior to the US air strike on Saturday morning."
Title : Afghan conflict: MSF 'disgust' at government hospital claims
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