A U.S. airstrike that mistakenly killed 22 people at
a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan last month was, in part, the result of
military personnel targeting the hospital compound instead of a suspected
nearby site from which Taliban fighters were firing, several administration
officials told CNN Tuesday.
The October 3 mission had several technical and
human errors, said the officials, who would not elaborate. A U.S. military
fact-finding investigation into the incident details the mistakes and reveals
that the aircraft was supposed to be targeting a nearby compound suspected of
housing Taliban gunmen, not the hospital, they said.
Gen. John Campbell, the top NATO and U.S. commander
in Afghanistan, will take the unusual step on Wednesday of releasing a brief
summary of the investigation's conclusions. The step is unusual because this
type of release of information typically does not happen until the military
determines if any military personnel will be disciplined or charged with
wrongdoing.
Campbell has consulted his legal staff and is
expected to keep the information very brief. But an official familiar with his
thinking said that although authorities are still determining any potential
disciplinary action, Campbell believes the incident is serious and has garnered
so much public attention it warrants this step.
It will now be up to Campbell to decide whether to
take further action himself or refer the matter to various military services
that oversaw the troops involved. He could also decide to take no action.
The Pentagon has already concluded the Doctors
Without Borders group that ran the facility had followed all proper procedures
in notifying the U.S. of the location of the hospital. The group "did
everything right," a U.S. official said last month.
Hospitals, like schools and mosques, are prohibited
from being attacked by the U.S. military even if there may be militants
present. Doctors Without Borders has consistently said there were no Taliban
fighters at the hospital on October 3 and that it was a particularly quiet
night that followed several days of clashes.
Early last month, the Taliban had taken control of
Kunduz and Afghan forces were battling them back. The U.S., under current rules
of engagement, does not strike Taliban formations unless Afghan security forces
are about to be overrun. That night, there were reports of gunfire in the area,
which led to a U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship being called in. The hospital came
under repeated attack even though the medical staff called U.S. military
contacts urging them to stop their fire as the attack unfolded.
Doctors Without Borders has said the hospital came
under attack for an hour.
What the military has not yet said is how the
hospital was mistaken for the intended target and whether any military
personnel involved in the operation knew or believed they were attacking a
hospital, or whether they thought it was a different compound manned by the
Taliban.
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