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                   MSF Staff Killed in Bombing in Afghanistan

   by Ayaz Gul

   The medical group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says three of its staff
   members are dead and more than 30 are unaccounted for after its trauma
   center in the beleaguered northern Afghan city of Kunduz suffered
   "sustained bombing" early Saturday.

   The organization says its medical facility was "very badly damaged" in
   what it described as an "aerial attack."

   "We are deeply shocked by the attack, the killing of our staff and
   patients and the heavy toll it has inflicted on healthcare in Kunduz,"
   Bart Janssens,  Doctors Without Borders director of operations, said in
   a [1]statement.  The group said that when the airstrike occurred there
   were around 105 patients and their caretakers in the hospital, and more
   than 80 foreign and local MSF staff present there.

   Afghan troops, backed by U.S airstrikes, have been enganged in heavy
   fighting in Kunduz against Taliban militants who had taken over the
   city earlier in the week.

   The U.S. military said Saturday it counducted a pre-dawn airstrike in
   Kunduz that may have caused collateral damage.

   A spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Brian Tribus says
   that "individuals threatening the force" were the target of the strike
   that took place at 2:15 am local time.

   "The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical
   facility.  This incident is under investigation," he said.

   Fierce fighting

   Authorities in Afghanistan said Friday that at least 60 people have
   been killed and 466 wounded in the battle between government troops and
   the Taliban for control of Kunduz.

   President Ashraf Ghani announced late Thursday that Afghan security
   forces, after heavy fighting, recaptured most of Kunduz three days
   after the provincial capital fell to the Taliban.

   Clashes, however, were continuing late Friday night because officials
   said insurgents were still hold up in parts of it.

   A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, in a statement sent to VOA has
   denied presence of its fighters in the area

   A health ministry spokesman said Friday the government has been sending
   surgical teams and medical supplies to Kunduz. But the International
   Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it is increasingly concerned
   about the welfare of civilians and the lack of medical supplies and
   personnel in the city of around 300,000 people.

   In its statement issued Friday, the ICRC said it has emergency medical
   supplies ready to be flown from Kabul as soon as security at the city's
   airport improves.

   "We call on all parties to the conflict to ensure the safety of the
   civilian population and to facilitate the work of  those trying to
   provide humanitarian support to the people," it quoted ICRC's
   Afghanistan head, Jean-Nicolas Marti as saying.

   [Fern Robinson contributed to this report]
     __________________________________________________________________

   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/doctors-without-borders-staff-killed-
   in-afghanistan/2989983.html

References

   1. http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/afghanistan-msf-staff-killed-hospital-partially-destroyed-kunduz
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/doctors-without-borders-staff-killed-in-afghanistan/2989983.html