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US President Barack Obama has promised a full investigation into an apparent US air strike on an Afghan hospital that killed 19 people, a bombing that the UN said could amount to a war crime.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said patients burned to death in their beds during a raid that lasted for more than an hour on Saturday, even after US and Afghan authorities were informed the hospital had been hit.
"Twelve staff members and at least seven patients, including three children, were killed; 37 people were injured," the charity said. "This attack is abhorrent and a grave violation of international law."

Watch: Anger at US over Afghan hospital strike
The medical charity said yesterday it had withdrawn staff from the embattled city of Kunduz. It is the only medical facility in the whole northeastern region of the country that can deal with major war injuries.
Its closure, even temporarily, could have a devastating impact on local civilians.
"The MSF hospital is not functional anymore. All critical patients have been referred to other health facilities and no MSF staff are working in our hospital," Kate Stegeman, a spokeswoman for the charity, said.
"I can't confirm at this stage whether our Kunduz trauma centre will reopen or not."
The air raid came days after Taliban fighters seized control of the strategic northern city, in their most spectacular victory since being toppled from power by a US-led coalition in 2001.

Obama offered his "deepest condolences" for what he called a "tragic incident". "The Department of Defence has launched a full investigation, and we will await the results of that inquiry before making a definitive judgment as to the circumstances of this tragedy," he said.
UN rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein called for a full and transparent probe, noting: "An air strike on a hospital may amount to a war crime.
"This event is utterly tragic, inexcusable and possibly even criminal."
Afghan forces, backed up by their Nato allies, had claimed to have wrestled back control of the city. But the defence ministry in Kabul said "a group of armed terrorists … were using the hospital building as a position to target Afghan forces and civilians".
MSF has denied any combatants were in the hospital.
The charity said that despite frantic calls to military officials in Kabul and Washington, the main building housing the intensive care unit and emergency rooms was "repeatedly, very precisely" hit almost every 15 minutes for more than an hour.
The charity said Afghan and coalition forces were aware of the location of the hospital, having been given GPS coordinates of a facility it said had been providing care for four years.


Obama vows probe into Afghan hospital strike as UN warns tragedy could be war crime

Medical staff were left shocked by the bombardment. Photo: AFP

Members of Doctors Without Borders have treated more than 250 patients in the wake of the Taliban operation to capture Kunduz in Afghanistan. Photo: AFP

‘The sky was falling down’: Grief, horror grip surviving MSF staff after Kunduz hospital bombing

In a show of heroic resilience, despite the bombing, surgeries resumed in a makeshift operation theatre in an undamaged part of the hospital.  Photo: AFP

Fires burn in part of the MSF hospital in Kunduz after it was hit by a suspected air strike. Photo: AFP

The air raid came days after Taliban fighters seized control of the  strategic northern city of Kunduz, in their most spectacular victory since  being booted from power by a US-led coalition in 2001.  Photo" AFP


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UN says tragedy at Kunduz medical facility could amount to war crime


Obama vows probe into Afghan hospital strike as UN warns tragedy could be war crime

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}UN says tragedy at Kunduz medical facility could amount to war crime

UN says tragedy at Kunduz medical facility could amount to war crime