The international medical organization Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has suspended medical activities at a hospital that it runs in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains after it was directly targeted by a Sudanese warplane.
MSF announced yesterday that their hospital at Frandala on Tuesday was “bombed by the Sudanese Air Force,” adding that 11 bombs fell just outside the hospital fence and 2 landed within the hospital grounds wounding one MSF staff and one patient and damaging property.
Approximately 150 patients and staff were in the hospital during midday operations when the bombing took place, according to the press release.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the bombing of the Frandala hospital”, said Marc Van der Mullen, MSF head of mission. “With more than 100 patients present, we were very lucky not to have more casualties because people simply had no time to seek protection. Everyone is shocked and frightened of further attacks”.
The Frandala hospital was previously bombed in June 2014. MSF says that Sudanse authorities are aware of the MSF presence and activities in the hospital, which is located in territory controlled by the SPLA-North rebel group but not near a frontline.
“Today there can be no doubt that this was a deliberate and targeted bombing on a civilian hospital structure and part of a strategy to terrorize the community,” said Van der Mullen.
The MSF facility in Frandala, featuring outpatient and inpatient wards, began operating in 2012. Nearly 80,000 consultations have been performed, along with close to 4,000 hospitalizations.