US military punishes more than a dozen for Afghan hospital air strike

WASHINGTON – The US military has disciplined more than a dozen personnel, including officers, following a deadly October air strike in Afghanistan that destroyed a hospital run by Medecins Sans Frontiers and killed at least 42 people, US officials told Reuters on Friday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the US military took administrative and non-judicial actions against the US personnel, instead of seeking criminal charges. In November, the US military described the strike, which killed at least 42 medical staff, patients, and caretakers, as a tragic, avoidable accident caused primarily by human error. According to the initial US investigation, US forces had meant to target a different building in the city and were initially led off-track by a technical error in their aircraft's mapping system but then misidentified their intended target. The full results of an investigation into the strike are expected to be released in the coming days. –Reuters