Pentagon officials confirmed late Wednesday more than a dozen officers and enlisted military personnel have been disciplined for involvement in an accidental bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan last October that killed 42 people.
The Department of Defense said the punishments will be mainly administrative though some personnel will receive letters of reprimand, which would ban those individuals from future promotion, according to a new report.
Officials would not disclose additional details about the punishments, but described the process as nearly complete more than five months since the fatal attack.
On Oct. 3, 2015, a hospital in the northern city of Kunduz was mistakenly attacked by a U.S. Air Force special operations group. Army Gen. John Campbell, who was the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan at the time, called the incident “tragic but avoidable” because it was “caused primarily by human error.”
In the days following the attack, Doctors Without Borders called for an international investigation, but none has been undertaken. A U.S. military investigation was completed in November, but the results have not been publicly released.
The Pentagon said it will release the partial results of its investigation in the coming days. Sandra Murillo, spokeswoman for Doctors Without Borders, said her organization will not respond to the news of disciplinary actions until U.S. military officials reach out to the group or make a public announcement.
