MSF Dismisses Claims Taliban Used Kunduz Hospital

Local Editor

The international medical charity, Doctors Without Borders, known as MSF in French, had once again rejected claims about the presence of Taliban militants in one of its hospitals in Afghanistan, which was recently bombed in a US attack.

In a news conference in the Afghan capital, Kabul, the medical charity's General Director Christopher Stokes said claims that ammunition were stored in Kunduz hospital were baseless, saying the MSF does not allow armed people into its facilities.

"The presence of any armed people in our facilities is absolutely forbidden and not tolerated," said Stokes, adding that all patients and visitors are routinely checked to hand their weapons in before entering the MSF health centers.

The Saturday attack by US fighter jets claimed the lives of 22 medical personnel and patients in Kunduz hospital and left behind a trail of destruction in the facility. Reports say 20 people, including five staffers, are still missing.

Meanwhile, the organization's representative in Afghanistan, Guilhem Molinie, said the facility was no place for the militants to hide.

"No armed insurgents were hiding out in the hospital at the time of the attack," he said, adding, "Statements alleging that the hospital had been used as a base to launch armed attacks are baseless and entirely without merit."

Molinie said the hospital's GPS coordinates had been repeatedly reported to US officials before the attack.

"They had shared GPS coordinates with Afghan and US forces," he said, repeating previous statements by MSF officials who said the attack on Kunduz hospital was "a grave violation of international law."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team