The general director of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Christopher Stokes, said the bombing of their facility in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, should be investigated as a war crime.  

He said the 'extensive, quite precise' nature of the attack, which killed at least 22 patients and staff, casts doubt on the United States' assertions that it was a mistake. 

Haunting new photographs from inside the scorched hospital show how its operating theatres, wards, bedrooms and hallways have all been destroyed by the attack, which allegedly lasted for more than an hour.

The trauma hospital was destroyed during a firefight between the Taliban and government troops on October 3, as US advisers helped Afghan forces retake the city from the insurgents.

It recently emerged that American special operations analysts were gathering intelligence on the facility, which they knew was a 'protected medical site', just days before the attack.

They believed it was being used by a Pakistani operative to coordinate Taliban activity but it is unclear whether the commanders who attacked it with an AC-130 gunship knew about the alleged enemy activity or whether it was a hospital.

At first, the Pentagon said the attack was necessary to protect US troops engaged in battle but President Barack Obama has since apologised and said the strike was a mistake.

The US claimed the the strike was called in by Afghan forces but has not explained exactly how it happened or who granted final approval.

Standing in the scorched hospital, MSF's general director Mr Stokes claimed the hospital was fired on 'repeatedly' even though they had provided its coordinates and information to 'all the parties in the conflict'. 

He added: 'The extensive, quite precise destruction of this hospital... doesn't indicate a mistake. The hospital was repeatedly hit.' 

MSF claimed the bombing went on for more than an hour, despite calls to Afghan, US and NATO officials to call it off. 

Stokes, who has called for an independent investigation into the attack, said the features of the attack 'point to a grave breach of international humanitarian law, and therefore a war crime'.

Afghan authorities have refused to comment before investigations are complete. President Ashraf Ghani's deputy spokesman, Zafar Hashemi, said the Afghan government has 'faith' in investigations being conducted by the US military and by a joint Afghan-NATO team.

MSF denied there were any armed Taliban on the hospital grounds at the time of the attack. 

Mr Stokes said: 'The compound was not entered by Taliban soldiers with weapons. 

'What we have understood from our staff and guards is that there was very strong, very good control of what was happening in and around the compound and they reported no firing in the hours preceding the destruction of the hospital.'

He said more than 70 staff members were on duty, tending to more than 100 patients at the time. According to its policy, MSF treats government troops and insurgent combatants equally and hospitals are supposed to be regarded as 'protected sites' in war.

Doctors Without Borders officials have said the U.S. gunship made five separate strafing runs over the course of an hour, directing heavy fire on the main hospital building, which contained the emergency room and intensive care unit. Surrounding buildings were not hit. The hospital is no longer operable.

Stokes said that 'until we understand what happened and we can gain guarantees that this unacceptable attack cannot happen again, we cannot reopen and put our staff in danger.'

MSF, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization that provides medical aid in conflict zones, has called for an investigation by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC), based in the Swiss capital, Bern. 

It is made up of diplomats, legal experts, doctors and some former military officials from nine European countries, including Britain and Russia.

An investigation by IHFFC needs the cooperation of both Afghanistan and the US before it can proceed - which neither government is expected to give.

(dailymail.co.uk)