Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has
said it is "disgusted" by Afghan government statements justifying an air
strike on its hospital in Kunduz, calling it an "admission of a war
crime".
MSF said the statement implies US and Afghan forces decided to bomb the hospital because of claims Taliban members were inside.
The charity blames US-led Nato forces for Saturday's attack which killed at least 22 people, including MSF staff.
The US is investigating the incident.
Afghan
government forces, backed by the US-led coalition, have been engaged in
a battle to retake the northern city from Taliban fighters who seized
it last month.
'Raze to the ground'
On
Saturday the Afghan defence ministry said "armed terrorists" were using
the hospital "as a position to target Afghan forces and civilians".
MSF
said in a statement: "These statements imply that Afghan and US forces
working together decided to raze to the ground a fully functioning
hospital - with more than 180 staff and patients inside - because they
claim that members of the Taliban were present. Image copyrightReutersImage caption
MSF says its workers reported no fighting inside the hospital before the attack
"This amounts to an admission of a war crime. This
utterly contradicts the initial attempts of the US government to
minimise the attack as 'collateral damage.'"
US
Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Sunday that a full, transparent
investigation would be conducted into whether the US military could be
linked to the attack.
MSF reiterated its demand for an independent investigation by an international body.
Media captionFootage from the scene showed the still smoking remains of the clinic
Twelve MSF staff members and 10 patients were killed when the hospital was hit.
Dozens
were injured and the hospital severely damaged by a series of air
strikes lasting more than an hour from 02:00 local time on Saturday
morning.
On its Twitter feed,
MSF said: "The hospital was repeatedly and precisely hit during each
aerial raid, while the rest of the compound was left mostly untouched.
"Not
a single member of our staff reported any fighting inside the hospital
compound prior to the US air strike on Saturday morning."
Read more on the battle for Kunduz:
Image copyrightEuropean Photopress AgencyImage caption
Food is distributed to residents who have been
forced to stay home without food or electricity to escape street battles
Who are the Taliban? A guide to the complexities and conflicts within the militant group
Taliban selfies: The militants posing for pictures as they seized the city
Afghan troops are now reported to have recaptured most of Kunduz after it was seized by the Taliban.
MSF said it was pulling most of its staff out of the area but some medical staff were treating the wounded at other clinics.
"All
critical patients have been referred to other health facilities and no
MSF staff are working in our hospital," a spokeswoman for the charity
told AFP news agency.
MSF says the hospital was a lifeline for thousands in the city and in northern Afghanistan.
US
President Barack Obama has expressed his condolences and said he would
await the conclusions of an inquiry before making a definitive
judgement.
The UN called the strikes "inexcusable and possibly
even criminal", with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling for a
thorough and impartial investigation.
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