US to Unveil First Findings of Hospital Attack Probe Next Week

The United States will reveal early next week preliminary findings of its investigation into the October 3 bombing of the Medecins Sans Frontiers hospital in Kunduz, US Department of Defense spokesperson Peter Cook told reporters.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Cook was responding to complaints from reporters that more than two weeks after the US airstrike on the hospital killing at least 22 doctors and patients, there still had not been any public report from the Defense Department’s own investigation.

"[By the] beginning of next week we could have initial preliminary findings," Cook said at the daily press briefing on Thursday.

US special operations analysts were amassing intelligence on the hospital before the airstrike because they thought a Taliban agent was using the hospital as a command and control center during the US-backed Afghan Army drive to recapture Kunduz, US media reported on Thursday.

The Obama administration has acknowledged that the attack was a mistake and President Barack Obama has apologized to the Medecins Sans Frontiers.

However, the organization continues to call the attack a war crime and insists that no Taliban combat personnel, weapons or ammunition were present in the hospital.

Moreover, Medecins Sans Frontiers officials have stated that US AC-130 Hercules gunship carried out five separate attacks on the hospital in a single hour focusing on the central building housing the emergency room and intensive care unit.