Troops who called in Afghan strike thought hospital was overrun; MSF says no
WASHINGTON — The Army Green Berets who requested the Oct. 3 airstrike on the Doctors without Borders trauma center in Afghanistan were aware it was a functioning hospital but believed it was under Taliban control, The Associated Press has learned.
The new information adds to a body of evidence that the internationally run medical facility site was familiar to the U.S. military, raising questions about whether the decision to attack it violated international law.
A day before an American AC-130 gunship attacked the hospital, a senior officer in the Green Beret unit wrote in a report that U.S. forces had discussed the hospital with the country director of the medical charity group, presumably in Kabul, according to two people who have seen the document.
The attack left a mounting death toll, now up to 30 people.
Separately, in the days before the attack, “an official in Washington” asked Doctors without Borders “whether our hospital had a large group of Taliban fighters in it,” spokesman Tim Shenk said in an email. “We replied that this was not the case. We also stated that we were very clear with both sides to the conflict about the need to respect medical structures.”
Prosecutor: Woman accused in Oklahoma State parade crash ‘purposely’ went around barricade
STILLWATER, Okla. — A woman accused of driving her car into a crowd of people at Oklahoma State University’s homecoming parade “purposely” went around a barricade, ran a red light and drove over a police motorcycle before crashing into the spectators, a prosecutor said Monday.
“The evidence suggests this was an intentional act, not an accident,” Payne County District Attorney Laura Thomas said in a public statement. The driver’s actions demonstrated “a depraved mind and indifference to human life.”
At a bail hearing, the district attorney told the judge that Adacia Chambers is “looking at four life sentences” if convicted in the deaths of four people who were hit.
Special District Judge Katherine Thomas granted the request for $1 million bail and ordered a psychological evaluation for Chambers, who is being held on preliminary counts of second-degree murder.
“This was a well-known parade day and route and these innocents were visible from a substantial distance,” the district attorney said the statement.
More than 260 dead as earthquake strikes Afghanistan, Pakistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — A massive earthquake struck remote and impoverished regions of northern Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday, killing at least 263 people as it shook buildings across South Asia and knocked out power and communications to already-isolated areas.
The 7.5-magnitude quake was centered deep beneath the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan’s sparsely populated Badakhshan province, which borders Pakistan, Tajikistan and China, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
In the Afghan capital of Kabul, buildings shook for up to 45 seconds, walls cracked and cars rolled in the streets as electricity went out. Frightened workers who had just returned from lunch also rushed from swaying buildings in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad and to the south in the Indian capital of New Delhi.
At least 228 people were killed in Pakistan, with more than 1,000 injured, while Afghan officials reported 33 dead and more than 200 injured, and authorities in the Indian-controlled Kashmir region reported two deaths. Officials expected the casualty toll to rise as they reached the remote areas.
Israeli premier orders review that could strip Jerusalem residency rights of some Palestinians
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a review of the status of certain Palestinian neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, an official confirmed Monday, a decision that could potentially strip tens of thousands of Palestinians of their Israeli residency rights.
Such a move is unlikely to overcome Israeli legal hurdles, but the very prospect has unnerved Palestinians in the city. The review comes after weeks of Israeli-Palestinian violence, much of it concentrated in east Jerusalem, the section of the city claimed by the Palestinians for their future capital. Many of the Palestinian attackers involved in deadly assaults came from east Jerusalem neighborhoods. Any move to change the status of the city’s Palestinians would threaten unleashing new unrest and draw international condemnations.
The current round of violence began last month with clashes at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, a hilltop compound in the Old City that is revered by Jews and Muslims. The clashes quickly spread to other areas of east Jerusalem, across Israel and into the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In all, 10 Israelis have been killed, mostly in stabbings, while 52 Palestinians, including 30 identified by Israel as attackers, have been killed by Israeli fire.
5 Britons killed after whale vessel sinks off Vancouver Island; 1 person missing
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Five British nationals died when a whale watching boat with 27 people on board sank off Vancouver Island, the British Foreign Minister said Monday. One person was missing and the rest were rescued, some by members of the local aboriginal community who rushed to help.
The cause of the sinking remained a mystery. The boat made a mayday call late Sunday afternoon on a calm, clear and sunny day off Tofino, a popular destination for whale watchers, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said.
Government investigators were not expected to arrive until Monday afternoon in Tofino, a remote community of about 2,000 people at the very tip of a peninsula some 200 miles northwest of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. Jamie Bray, the owner of the company that operates the boat, said he is cooperating with investigators to determine what happened.
By wire sources.
