International medical charity Doctors Without Borders said it was left the northern city of Kunduz after an apparent U.S. airstrike killed 19 people at its hospital there.
"MSF hospital in Kunduz is not functional anymore," Kate Stegeman, a Kabul-based spokesperson for the charity also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, announced in a tweet on Sunday.
The group blames the U.S. for the airstrike. Afghan officials said helicopter gunships returned fire from Taliban fighters who were hiding in the facility.
According to Polly Markandya, a Doctors Without Borders representative in London, all staff and patients had been relocated to two other facilities in Kabul and another location two hours away from the city.
Investigations were continuing into the bombing of the hospital, which killed at least 19 people, including 12 Doctors Without Borders staffers.
Another 37 others were injured in the strike: 19 staff members, including five in critical condition, and 18 patients and caretakers, according to Jason Cone, the executive director for Doctors Without Borders in the U.S. The organization didn't comment on the identities of the victims, but said all international staffers were alive and accounted for.
Autoplaying video at link:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/doctors-without-borders-leaves-kunduz-afghanistan-after-deadly-airstrike-n438221They almost never pull out. Insanely, stupidly brave, the volunteers are.
