In criticising Russia's bombing operations in Syria, western sources have been quick to point to photographic evidence that suggests the Russians have not been using laser-guidance bombs in their raids. The result, inevitably, they say is that such operations lack the "pin-point accuracy" of the US and allies and will result in higher civilian casualties. Tell that to those who spent an hour being bombed by US planes in the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) trauma centre in Kunduz on Saturday where 22 people, including 12 Afghan aid workers, were killed and dozens of patients and hospital staff were injured!
The Pentagon said it might have struck the hospital inadvertently, later suggesting that “a US airstrike “in the Kunduz vicinity ... may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility”. Afghan officials said initially that helicopter gunships had returned fire from Taliban fighters who were hiding in the hospital, while US officials said American special operations forces advising Afghan commandos in the vicinity of the hospital had requested the air support when they came under fire .
MSF has vehemently denied that there were any combattants in the complex, insists that the US command had been informed more than once of the GPS coordinates and nature of the hospital prior to the attack, and that during it repeated calls to Nato and the US military to call off the strikes had failed. MSF has now withdran from Kunduz – it says that in 2014 more than 22,000 patients received care at the hospital and more than 5,900 surgical procedures were performed.
The organisation has demanded that “a full and transparent investigation into the event be conducted by an independent international body”, a call that should be urgently supported by governments internationally. The UN human rights chief said the hospital assault was “inexcusable” and could amount to a war crime. As international human rights organisations repeatedly told the Israelis during their campaigns against Gaza, there are particular international rules-of-war obligations on armies engaged in combat in urban centres to go out of their way to safeguard civilians and particularly hospitals and humanitarian sites from attack or targeting. Kunduz must be investigated.