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Obama apologizes to Doctors Without Borders after deadly airstrike

Posted at 2:23 PM, Oct 07, 2015
and last updated 2015-10-07 14:23:01-04

President Barack Obama has called and apologized to the head of Doctors Without Borders, whose staff and patients were killed and injured during a bombing Saturday in Kunduz, Afghanistan, the White House said Wednesday.

Obama called the organization’s president Joanne Liu on Wednesday morning, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said during the daily press briefing.

“The President assured Dr. Liu that the Department of Defense investigation currently under way would provide a transparent, thorough and objective accounting of the facts and circumstances of the incident and, if necessary, the President would implement changes that would make tragedies like this one less likely to occur in the future,” Earnest said.

The U.S. has characterized its airstrike Saturday, which killed 12 members of the Doctors Without Borders staff as well as 10 patients, as a mistake.