‘Human Error’ Led to Hospital Bombing

Human error was the primary factor that led to the Oct. 3 bombing of a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, operated by Doctors Without Borders, the commander of U.S. forces there said Nov. 25. Procedural missteps and technical failures also contributed to the incident, Army Gen. John F. Campbell said. Thirty people died and another 37 were wounded in the attack, carried out by an AC-130 gunship. “The medical facility was misidentified as a target by U.S. personnel who believed they were striking a different building several hundred meters away where there were reports of combatants,” Campbell said. He added that the personnel who called for the air strike did not take sufficient steps to ensure that their target was legitimate, promising that he would “take appropriate administrative and disciplinary action through a process that is fair and thoroughly considers the available evidence.”