UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the air strike on a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Afghanistan, which has left 19 people dead.
MSF has confirmed three children died in the bombing.
The US has admitted it may have killed a number of aid workers in an air raid in northern Afghanistan - despite being told several times where the hospital was located.
MSF says 12 aid workers and seven patients were killed, and 37 people were seriously injured in the attack, including 19 MSF staff.
From 2:08 AM until 3:15 AM local time today, MSF’s trauma hospital in Kunduz was hit by a series of aerial bombing raids at approximately 15 minute intervals.
The main central hospital building, housing the intensive care unit, emergency rooms, and physiotherapy ward, was repeatedly hit very precisely during each aerial raid, while surrounding buildings were left mostly untouched.
“The bombs hit and then we heard the plane circle round,” said Heman Nagarathnam, MSF Head of Programmes in northern Afghanistan.
“There was a pause, and then more bombs hit. This happened again and again. When I made it out from the office, the main hospital building was engulfed in flames.
“Those people that could had moved quickly to the building’s two bunkers to seek safety. But patients who were unable to escape burned to death as they lay in their beds.”
The charity has condemned "in the strongest possible terms the horrific bombing of its hospital in Kunduz full of staff and patients.
"MSF wishes to clarify that all parties to the conflict, including in Kabul and Washington, were clearly informed of the precise location (GPS Coordinates) of the MSF facilities - hospital, guesthouse, office and an outreach stabilization unit in Chardara (to the north-west of Kunduz)," it adds.
The organisation frantically phoned NATO and Washington as bombs rained down on its staff during the aid raid.
Jane-Anne McKenna is Director of Médecins Sans Frontières in Ireland.
She says all sides were warned about the location of the hospital in advance of the air strikes:
Image: MSF
Sediq Sediqi, a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, told a news conference there were 10-15 terrorists hiding in the hospital, which is why it was targeted.
"All of the terrorists were killed, but we also lost doctors. We will do everything to make sure doctors are safe and they can do their jobs," he said.
The Taliban have been battling to take over the city, the fifth largest in Afghanistan, since last Monday. The charity says it has treated 394 wounded people since the fighting broke out.
More than 80 MSF international and national staff were present in the hospital at the time of the attack, along with over 100 patients and their caretakers.
NATO spokesman Col Brian Tribus said in a statement that "US forces conducted an airstrike in Kunduz city at 2:15 a.m. (local), 3 October, against individuals threatening the force.
"The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility. This incident is under investigation," he added.
Saad Mukhtar, director of public health in Kunduz, said a wall of the hospital's main building collapsed, scattering fragments of glass and wooden door frames, and three rooms were on fire.
"Thick, black smoke could be seen rising from some of the rooms," he said after visiting the hospital. "The fighting is still going on, so we had to leave."
The US military has carried out a number of air strikes this week in support of government forces in Kunduz, the provincial capital and the fifth largest city in Afghanistan.
According to Afghan officials, more than 200 Taliban militants have been killed since the latest operation began late on Friday.
Security forces are now conducting searches to weed out any remaining fighters hidden in the city of 300,000 people.
