KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Afghanistan’s acting defense minister said on Monday that the Doctors Without Borders hospital in the north of the country that was bombed by U.S. forces was being used by insurgents who were fighting government forces.
Masoom Stanekzai told The Associated Press in an interview that Taliban insurgents and possibly Pakistani operatives of the government’s secret service were using the facility in Kunduz city as a “safe place.”
The hospital was bombed by a U.S. AC-130 gunship in the early hours of Oct. 3, killing at least 22 people and injuring many more. The main building was destroyed and the hospital is no longer operating.
The group, also known by its French acronym MSF, has repeatedly denied the presence of Taliban fighters on the hospital compound at the time of the attack.
Kate Stegeman, MSF’s communications director in Afghanistan said on Monday: “We reiterate that every staff member in Kunduz working for MSF has repeatedly reported to us that there were no armed people in the hospital at the time of the bombing.”