Wikileaks has offered a $50,000 award for footage from the US aircraft that bombed an MSF hospital in Afghanistan last week.
In an appeal to raise the funds posted on their website on Thursday the international organisation says it is raising the money to “obtain the footage, the cockpit audio, the inquiry report and other relevant materials such as the Rules of Engagement active at the time.”
The Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Kunduz, in north-eastern Afghanistan, was bombed by a US AC-130 gunship on 3 October. 22 people, including 12 MSF staff and 10 patients – three of whom were children – died.
Five days after the attack Barack Obama apologised for what the White House described as a “terrible, tragic accident”.
It is not a characterisation MSF agree with. MSF has labelled the attack a “war crime” and called for an independent investigation into the strike. They also state US and Afghan forces were informed only days prior to the attack of the medical facility’s GPS coordinates.
Joanne Lie, MSF president, criticised US forces and said her organisation “cannot rely on only internal military investigations by the US, Nato and Afghan forces.”
Within hours of being posted online the Wikileaks appeal had already raised more than $2,500.
