International Humanitarian-Aid Organization Médecins Sans Frontières Pulls Out Staff After U.S. Airstrike Reportedly Meant For Taliban Fighters Struck The Hospital

The Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has pulled out its staff after a US airstrike on its hospital Saturday. The bombing left 12 medical staff and 10 patients, including three children, dead. Also, 37 people were wounded after the incident, as reported by The Guardian on Sunday.

"Not a single member of our staff reported any fighting inside the MSF hospital compound prior to the US airstrike on Saturday morning," says MSF general director Christopher Stokes.

"The hospital was full of MSF staff, patients and their caretakers. It is 12 MSF staff members and 10 patients, including three children, who were killed in the attack."

He also reveals that the hospital was "repeatedly and very precisely hit during each aerial raid, while the rest of the compound was left mostly untouched."

"Under the clear presumption that a war crime has been committed, MSF demands that a full and transparent investigation into the event be conducted by an independent international body," Stoke says.

"Relying only on an internal investigation by a party to the conflict would be wholly insufficient."

Commander of US forces in Afghanistan Gen. John Campbell on Monday reveals that the Afghan forces sought the help of American military for air support on Saturday.

"We have now learned that on October 3, Afghan forces advised that they were taking fire from enemy positions and asked for air support from U.S. forces," Campbell says, as noted by CNN on Tuesday.

"An airstrike was then called to eliminate the Taliban threat, and several innocent civilians were accidentally struck."

In a dispatch posted on the official website of MSF, Stoke says the hospital, which is also known as Doctors Without Borders, "need(s) for a full transparent independent investigation" on the incident.

"Today the US government has admitted that it was their airstrike that hit our hospital in Kunduz and killed 22 patients and MSF staff. Their description of the attack keeps changing - from collateral damage, to a tragic incident, to now attempting to pass responsibility to the Afghanistan government."

He goes on, "The reality is the US dropped those bombs. The US hit a huge hospital full of wounded patients and MSF staff. The US military remains responsible for the targets it hits, even though it is part of a coalition."

On the other hand, White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Monday says the primary concern of the US military is to protect the civilians.

"There is no country in the world and no military in the world that goes to greater lengths and places a higher premium on avoiding civilian casualties than the United States Department of Defense," he says.