Sources in the US military revealed that results of the investigation into the October 2015 aerial attack will be made public in a partially redacted form in coming days. Doctors Without Borders representatives said the organization will not comment until the Pentagon's decision is made public or communicated directly to the charity.
The hospital, run by the international charity organization Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières), was attacked by an AC-130 Spectre gunship, often called a ‘flying artillery.'
According to an official explanation by the US military, the gunship had been dispatched to destroy a Taliban command center located some 450 yards away from the hospital. However, the aircraft crew failed to identify the target with electronic sensors, relying instead on a physical description of the building.
The gunship hammered the building for 29 minutes, firing 221 high-velocity shells, before the MSF could get through to the US military command to stop the bombardment. At least 20 doctors and 10 patients were killed in the attack, one of the deadliest assaults on civilians in the 15-year war.
Army Gen. John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan at the time, called it a "tragic but avoidable accident caused primarily by human error."
US President Barack Obama officially apologized for the attack. Money has been offered to more than 140 families and individuals affected by the massacre.
