US intelligence knew Afghan bombing target was a hospital

Almost two weeks after the US airstrike on a hospital in Afghan city of Kunduz that killed 22 patients, it has emerged that the US already knew it was a protected medical site and believed it was being used by a Pakistani operatives to co-ordinate Taliban activity.

According to News24, it is not yet clear whether commanders who unleashed the AC-130 gunship on the hospital were aware that it was a hospital.

The Pentagon initially said the attack was to protect US troops engaged in a firefight.

The analysts had gathered a dossier that contained maps with the hospital circled along with hints that the intelligence was tracking the location of Pakistani operative and action reports based on overhead surveillance, as per a former intelligence official familiar with the material.

Some US analysts have justified the airstrike as they believe that a Pakistani who was working for his country's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) directorate had been killed.