Taliban used bombed Doctors Without Borders hospital as safe place: Afghanistan

Kabul: Afghanistan’s acting defence minister says the hospital that was bombed by US forces was being used by insurgents who were fighting government forces. Mohammed Masoom Stanekzai said on Monday that Taliban insurgents and possibly Pakistani operatives had used the Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) facility in the city of Kunduz as a “safe place”. [caption id=“attachment_2474144” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Doctors Without Borders trauma center in Afghanistan that was bombed on 3 October. Image: Médecins Sans Frontières via AP.[/caption] The hospital was bombed by a US AC-130 gunship in the early hours of 3 October, killing at least 22 people and injuring many more. The main building was destroyed and the hospital has closed. The medical charity has repeatedly denied the presence of Taliban fighters at the time. Stanekzai says a Taliban flag had been hoisted on the walls around the hospital compound. He says Afghanistan will not support an independent investigation, as the charity has demanded. AP