WASHINGTON: The commander of US forces in Afghanistan said on Wednesday that an “avoidable human error” led to the US bombing of an Afghan charity hospital last month.

The Oct 3 attack on a hospital in Kunduz — run by French charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) — killed at least 31 civilians and injured 28 others.

An investigation, known officially as a combined civilian casualty assessment, also blamed human error for the attack. US Army Brig. Gen Richard Kim headed the investigation team, which also included representatives of Nato and the Afghan government.

Also read: MSF hospital attack: US relied on Afghan allies who resented hospital, says AP

“This tragedy was the direct result of avoidable human error,” Gen John Campbell, the top US commander in Afghanistan, said at a Pentagon video news conference from Kabul.

He said a US warplane attacked the hospital after its crew mistook it for a nearby government compound taken over by the Taliban.

Gen Campbell also admitted that the “tragic mistake” was “compounded by systems and procedural failures.”

Some of the people closely involved in the attack have been suspended from their duties, he said, but he did not specify how many.

Earlier on Wednesday, a US media report said the crew of the US AC-130 gunship relied on a physical description of the compound provided by Afghan forces. The intended target was 400 metres away from the hospital.

Investigators found no evidence that the crew or the US Special Forces commander on the ground who authorised the strike knew the targeted compound was a hospital at the time of the attack.

The plane fired 211 shells at the compound over a 25-minute period before commanders realised the mistake and ordered a halt, the media report said.

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said earlier this month that several doctors and nurses were killed immediately, and patients who could not move burned to death in the ensuing fire. Hospital staff members made 18 attempts to call or text US and Afghan authorities, the group said.

People fleeing the main building were cut down by gunfire that appeared to track their movements, while a patient trying to escape in a wheelchair was killed by shrapnel, the MSF report said.

US President Barack Obama has apologised for the attack.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2015