Speaking at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Joanne Liu, international president of Doctors Without Borders — also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) —
said
the bombing “cannot be tolerated†and that “inconsistencies†in U.S. and Afghan accounts meant that any investigation must be conducted independently.
Twelve of the organization’s staff members and 10 patients — including three children — were killed in the bombing,
the organization said
. Another 37 people, including 19 staff, were wounded.
Over the weekend, the U.S.
said
the hospital bombing may have been “collateral damage†in its operations against the Taliban in the city, while the Afghan Interior Ministry insisted the hospital was harboring militants — a claim the aid organization said it was “disgusted†by.
Liu
said
the organization would be asking signatory states of the Geneva Convention to invoke the never-before-used International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission to conduct a probe in order to “establish the truth and to reassert the protected status of hospitals in conflict.â€