The US government said on October 10 it would make “condolence payments” to those injured in an attack it carried out earlier this month on a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in Afghanistan. The series of air strikes on the trauma centre in Kunduz killed 22 people and injured 37 others.
MSF has denounced the strikes as a war crime. “This was not just an attack on our hospital — it was an attack on the Geneva Conventions,” said MSF International president Dr Joanne Liu.
A dozen MSF employees were killed in the attack, along with 10 patients, including three children.
MSF has said it informed the US of its hospital's coordinates ahead of the strikes. It also immediately alerted US authorities when the hour-long bombing campaign began on October 3.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the US Department of Defence said it would also be making payments to the families of those killed in the attack.
“The Department of Defence believes it is important to address the consequences of the tragic incident at the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan,” said spokesperson Peter Cook.
Cook did not say how much money victims and families could expect to receive.
[Abridged from TeleSUR English.]
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