US Commander in Afghanistan apologizes for hospital attack

Kunduz / AP

The new commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan apologized on Tuesday to the people of Kunduz for the deadly attack on a hospital in the city last year that killed 42 people.
US Army Gen. John Nicholson traveled to the northern city to meet local leaders and relatives of those who died in the Oct. 3 attack. A US Air Force AC-130 gunship attacked the hospital run by medical charity Doctors Without Borders in what Nicholson called a “horrible tragedy.”
Nicholson’s wife Norine accompanied him to Kunduz, along with acting defense minister Masoom Stanekzai.
More than a dozen US military personnel have been disciplined for mistakes that led to the sustained attack. A US military report on the hospital attack is expected to be released within days. A separate US report on the incident obtained last fall by The Associated Press said the aircraft fired 211 shells at the hospital compound over 29 minutes before commanders realized the error and ordered a halt. Afghan officials, including Stanekzai, insisted that Taliban fighters, who had overrun the city on Sept. 28, were using the hospital as a base from which to attack Afghan forces.