33 MSF Staff, Patients Still Missing After US Air Strike On Kunduz Hospital

Five days after the US air strike on a hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz 33 people are still missing. Guilhem Molinie, country representative for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Afghanistan, said, "Of the missing, nine are patients and 24 are staff." Molinie said, "We are still in shock. We lost many colleagues and at the moment it's clear that we don't want to take the risk for any of our staff. We don't control the hospital."

The air strike in the early hours of October 3, 2015, has killed 12 MSF staff and 10 patients. This has prompted the charity to close the trauma center which was seen as a lifeline in a war-battered region with scant medical care.

US President Barack Obama has apologized to MSF head Joanne Liu, admitting that the strike was a mistake. Three separate probes, by the US military, NATO and Afghan officials, are under way.

However, MSF which has condemned the attack as a war crime, is stressing the need for an international investigation, saying, "The bombing raid was in contravention of the Geneva Conventions."

Liu said, "We cannot rely on an internal military investigation. The International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission should probe the bombing."

Source-AFP