Roundup: Bomb attack on MSF hospital in Kunduz City condemned

The Saturday bombing of a hospital in Kunduz City run by Medecins sans Frontieres (Medicines without Frontiers) that killed and injured scores, including patients and medical staff, has drawn wide condemnation from inside Afghanistan and abroad.

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has expressed sorrow over the tragic incident. U.S. President Barack Obama also expressed sympathy with the families of the victims while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the air strike and called for an impartial investigation of the incident.

On Sunday, the MSF demanded an independent international inquiry into a suspected U.S. air strike in its hospital that killed 22 people, branding the attack a "war crime".

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter promised a full investigation into whether the American military was connected to the destruction of the hospital, but cautioned it would take time to gather information.

"The air attack on the hospital has added to the miseries of the already terrified people in Kunduz City now that the most- equipped hospital in the city has been destroyed," Fakhrudin, a city resident, said.

Fakhrudin, like many Afghans who has only one name, said that his brother was injured during the fighting between the Taliban and government security forces and he took him to a hospital in the nearby Baghlan province for treatment.

"Bloody fighting, shortage of medicines, food and water have forced us to flee for Baghlan," a terrified woman resident, Bibi Gul, told Xinhua.

"Both the Taliban militants and U.S. bombardments have claimed the lives of people and there was no good health facility in Kunduz after the attack on the MSF hospital," Mohammad Hassan, 30, who suffered injuries, said. He is now being treated in a hospital in Baghlan.

The U.S. forces, which support Afghan security forces in the war on terror, have provided air cover to Afghan forces during the government's counter-offensive to recapture Kunduz City from Taliban.

The U.S. military admitted that an air strike may have caused " collateral damage", a military term for civilian deaths and injuries.

Among the 22 killed in the MSF bombing, 12 were MSF medical staff. There were 37 others injured in the hospital attack.

On Monday last week, the Taliban militants in a surprise attack captured Kunduz provincial capital Kunduz City, 250 km north of Kabul. It was the first provincial capital taken over by the Taliban after the collapse of the regime in late 2001.

After five days of intense fighting, Afghan security forces have driven or killed hundreds of Taliban militants. On Monday, government forces hoisted the Afghan flag at the Provincial Governor's House.

The MSF had treated 394 wounded in the hospital since fighting broke out last Monday in Kunduz City, the MSF said in a statement released hours after the air strike.

The statement also said that during the aerial attack Saturday morning there were 105 patients and their caretakers in the hospital and over 80 MSF local and foreign medical staff.

After the attack, the MSF transferred patients in critical conditions to other health facilities and temporarily suspended their operations.

The MSF said a U.S. military probe into the incident would not be enough. "Relying only on an internal investigation by a party to the conflict would be wholly insufficient," MSF General Director Christopher Stokes said in a statement.

"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," Stokes said.

As of Sunday, fighting was still raging in some parts of the city with a population of 300,000. Decomposing bodies littered the streets and trapped residents said food was becoming scarce.

Hundreds of people, including some 60 innocent civilians have reportedly been killed and more than 400 others wounded. Some 5, 000 city residents have evacuated to neighboring province of Baghlan. Endi