KABUL // The international medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres yesterday withdrew from the northern Afghan city of Kunduz after 19 people, 12 of whom were members of its staff, were killed in a US air strike that destroyed the organisation’s hospital.
The US president Barack Obama promised a full investigation into the attack on the hospital, which the United Nations said could be a war crime.
The humanitarian crisis in the city, which briefly fell to the Taliban last week before the government launched a counter-offensive, has grown increasingly dire, with shops closed because of fighting and roads made impassable by mines planted by insurgents.
“All critical patients have been referred to other health facilities and no MSF staff are working in our hospital,” said Kate Stegeman, the communications manager for Medecins Sans Frontieres.
“Some of our medical staff have gone to work in two hospitals where some of the wounded have been taken.”
Medecins Sans Frontieres said patients burnt to death in their beds during the attack in the early hours of Saturday, which continued for more than an hour even after US and Afghan authorities were informed that the hospital had been hit.
Afghan officials said helicopter gunships returned fire from Taliban fighters who were hiding in the hospital. Ms Stegeman said there were no insurgents in the hospital at the time of the bombing. The Afghabn president Ashraf Ghani has said a joint investigation with US forces is under way.
Mr Obama offered his “deepest condolences” for what he called a “tragic incident”.
“The department of defence has launched a full investigation, and we will await the results of that inquiry before making a definitive judgment as to the circumstances of this tragedy,” Mr Obama said.
The Taliban seized Kunduz last Monday but have since withdrawn from much of the city in the face of a government counterattack.
Sporadic battles continue as troops attempt to clear remaining pockets of militants.
The insurgents’ brief seizure of Kunduz marked the group’s biggest foray into a major urban area since the 2001 US-led invasion ended their rule.
Afghan forces have been struggling to combat the Taliban since the US and Nato shifted to a support and training role at the end of last year, officially ending their combat mission in the war-torn country.
Militants blocked and mined roads as soon as they entered Kunduz to prevent people from leaving and to thwart the government’s assault.
The deputy head of the Afghan national disaster management authority, Aslam Sayas, said that he was aware of the growing needs of people trapped inside the city.
“We are waiting for the security situation to improve to give us an opportunity to reach those needy people,” he said.
Saad Mukhtar, the Kunduz provincial public health director, estimated that more than 70 people had been killed and more than 500 had been injured in the city since the fighting began.
“I’m afraid that if this situation continues, we will not be able to help our patients because right now we are facing a serious, drastic shortage of medicine,” he said.
* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse