Roundup: Embattled Kunduz residents suffer from bombed-hospital closure, MSF calling for independent probe

The closure of Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital after a deadly airstrike in northern Afghan Kunduz city has left hundreds of people without access to medical assistance as fighting was continuing in the militancy-hit city.

On Monday last week, in a surprise attack, Taliban militants captured Kunduz city, some 250 km north of the capital Kabul. Three days after, on Thursday, government forces, backed by the U. S. military, launched a counter-offensive.

On Saturday, the U.S. military, which allegedly carried out air strikes in support of the Afghan forces, inadvertently hit a hospital run by MSF, killing 22, including 12 medical staff and injuring 37 others.

"I felt so sorry after I found the MSF hospital was hit by the U.S. air bombing. It is a tragedy. I want to say that this incident must be regarded as a war crime since targeting of a hospital even some suspected insurgents took position inside is not allowed. It is against the humanitarian laws," a Kunduz resident Hajji Mahboob told Xinhua by phone on Thursday.

Mahboob who lives near the hospital's building said that there is no sign to show insurgent's activity against security forces from inside the hospital's building. "It is not the first time that the U.S. and NATO airstrikes hit a civilian target, such mistakes have repeated tens of times in the past," Mahboob said.

"Enough is enough, we are tired from so many condemnation statements and offering apology. All people accountable for this tragedy must be brought to justice," he said.

While the U.S. State Department on Wednesday said the country is capable of investigations on its bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan, the MSF repeated its call for an independent international committee to probe the incident.

"We want to push to have an international independent investigation...we are looking how we can have a better system of accountability and so we have true around this incident," MSF General Director Christopher Stokes told a press briefing here on Thursday.

He said that the aid group is calling for an International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission to ensure maximum transparency and accountability on the incident.

In the aftermath of the deadly bombing, the MSF has suspended its operation in the city and has evacuated its remaining staff.

"The MSF hospital has been partially destroyed and is no longer operational. The fighting is still going on in Kunduz. Many are receiving gunshot and shrapnel wounds. They are deprived from receiving medical treatment as the government-run regional hospital has no enough medicine and medical surgeons. People are in urgent need but all international aid agencies have left Kunduz following the hospital bombing," another resident, Noor Mohammad, told Xinhua.

"I watched a TV report which said the U.S. president has apologized to MSF president over the incident. These words are useless. Those who did the attack should be accountable," Mohammad added.

Stokes said at the press briefing that reports which said insurgents used hospital as a base to attack foreign and Afghan security forces were "baseless information" only.

The MSF staff who survived the incident reported no armed combatants or fighting in the compound prior to the airstrike.

"As soon as a person entered the gates of an MSF hospital there is no discrimination. All patients are treated equally," he said, adding the hospital personnel did not allow any person to carry weapons inside the facility in accordance with the MSF policies.

While investigations by the U.S., NATO and the Afghan government were underway, the MSF urged earlier that "more are needed." The aid group wants a fact-finding mission to determine whether the attack violated the Geneva Conventions.

On Thursday, sporadic clashes continued as the Afghan security forces have pressed on clearing the militants from the city. Endi