A U.S. gunship attack on a Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Afghanistan that killed 42 people will not result in any criminal charges for the American military personnel involved, according to a top U.S. general.
Gen. Joseph Votel said during a press conference on Friday that the incident occurred due to a series of human errors and none of the aircrew knew they were striking a hospital.
At least 16 military members, including officers, have been disciplined, but no criminal charges will be filed.
“The label ‘war crimes’ is typically reserved for intentional acts — intentional targeting (of) civilians or intentionally targeting protected objects or locations,” Votel said.
“Again, the investigation found that the incident resulted from a combination of unintentional human errors, process errors and equipment failures, and that none of the personnel knew they were striking a hospital,” he added.
The crew was meant to hit a Taliban command center some 450 yards away from the hospital. But a technical glitch left the airmen using a physical description of the building — an ultimately tragic error, authorities said.
Votel said that the trauma center was on a no-strike list, but crew members did not have access to the list since the mission was on short notice.
To avoid such mistakes in the future, it will be required that data such as no-strike lists be pre-loaded onto all aircrafts.
A senior U.S. official told The Associated Press that among those disciplined was a two-star general as well as several special operations forces.
Doctors Without Borders called the attack “relentless and brutal.”
Votel expressed his deepest condolences to the family members of those killed during the October attack.
With News Wire Services
