2015 Afghan air strike: US military suspends 16 personnel

The U.S. Military disciplined 16 personnel for 2015 airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in Afghanistan, the Defence Department said on Friday.

It concluded that the bombing was inadvertent and therefore not a war crime.

Technical and human error led to the attack, General Joseph Votel said as he presented the results of an internal investigation into the Oct. 3, 2015, incident.

“The hospital, located in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, was mistaken for another building controlled by the Taliban.

“The hospital was on a list of buildings not to target, but the aircraft crew did not have access to the list due to problems with a radio system,’’ Votel said.

At least 42 people, including 24 patients, 14 staff and four caretakers, were killed and 37 others wounded in the airstrike that destroyed the MSF hospital building.

Several separate investigations into the attack were undertaken, and the commander of US forces in Afghanistan in November suspended the military personnel “most closely” involved in the bombing.

Human Rights Watch last month criticised the US for failing to criminally investigate the incident and giving only administrative punishments to those involved.

In a separate incident, an MSF hospital in Syria was struck this week, leaving at least 30 dead.