美国：多起失误导致错误袭击阿富汗医院

American forces misidentified a target in Kunduz, Afghanistan last month that resulted in a mistaken half-hour aerial attack on a hospital that killed at least 30 people, mostly doctors and patients, according to a U.S. military investigation.

Army Gen. John Campbell, the commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, said Wednesday that Afghan forces asked for U.S. air support to strike a National Directorate of Security building believed to be occupied by Taliban fighters. According to the report, the AC-130 air crew instead fired 211 shells at a hospital operated by the international charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) that was 450 meters away.

"This was a tragic mistake," Campbell said in Kabul Wednesday. "This is an example of human and process error. It was directly the result of avoidable human error."

Several factors contributed to the mistake, according to Campbell. The air crew launched more than an hour earlier than planned, missing out on a crucial brief that would normally include identifying no-strike areas such as the MSF hospital. Once in flight, the aircraft\'s electronic systems malfunctioned, eliminating the crew\'s ability to transmit video, send and receive email, or send and receive electronic messages.

The crew then believed it was the target of a missile, Campbell told reporters, so they moved out of the aircraft\'s normal strike range, degrading the accuracy of the targeting system. That loss of accuracy appeared to cause the coordinates of the Taliban target to land on an open field. The crew visually located the "closest, largest" building to that field and, thinking that was the target, fired on it.

Campbell said some military personnel involved in the incident have been suspended from duties pending possible disciplinary action, and that the U.S. intends to assist Doctors Without Borders in rebuilding the hospital.

美国和国际部队在阿富汗的指挥官、陆军上将坎贝尔星期三说，阿富汗部队请求美军空中支援，袭击据信被塔利班武装人员占据的国家安全董事会大楼。结果调查显示，AC-130机组人员向450米外一所由国际慈善机构医生无国界运营的医院发射211颗炮弹。

坎贝尔星期三在喀布尔说，“这是一个悲剧性错误。”他说，“这是人为和程序错误的一个例子，是由可以避免的人为错误直接造成的。”

坎贝尔说，几个问题导致了这一错误。机组人员比计划提前一个多小时展开行动，没有参加一次关键的简报会，会上一般会包括确认像无国界医生组织的医院这种非袭击区的信息。在飞机飞行时电子系统出了故障，使得机组无法传送视频、收发电邮或者电子信息。

坎贝尔对记者说，机组人员当时认为他们是导弹袭击目标，于是他们飞离飞机正常袭击范围，降低了目标系统的准确率。这似乎导致了塔利班的地面目标坐标锁定在一处空地。机组目测找到空地附近“最近、最大”的建筑物，认为那就是目标，于是开火。

坎贝尔说，与这次袭击有关的一些军事人员已经暂停工作，等候可能的纪律处分。美国计划帮助医生无国界重建那所医院。