US Bombing of Kunduz Last Year Killed 33 Civilians, Military Probe Concludes

A U.S. military bombing in Kunduz Province last year killed 33 civilians and wounded 27 others, according to a military investigation that concluded on Thursday.

The bombing was not the same one that struck a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in October 2015, which the human rights group said amounted to a war crime, but was part of a firefight waged by American forces during an Afghan operation to arrest Taliban commanders in Buz-e Kandahari in Kunduz in November of last year.

Afghan forces reportedly requested the bombing during the raid. The report concluded that the U.S. military had acted in self-defense.

A province official told the Associated Press that the death toll was actually much higher.

“More than 50 people, including women and children, were killed in the Afghan and U.S. forces’ attack in Buz-e Kandahari,” said Toryalia Kakar, a deputy provincial council member.

Kakar also disputed the military report’s claim that the airstrikes had killed 26 Taliban fighters, saying it was no more than 10. He urged the U.S. military to compensate families of the civilian victims.