Pentagon Says Red Cross Bombings Accidental; Buildings Unmarked

Facility misstatement

A U.S. Central Command investigation into the bombing of Red Cross warehouses in October has found that the facilities were not marked and that the humanitarian agency never gave the coordinates of the facility to the U.S. military, as it claimed.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued a statement two days after U.S. warplanes inadvertently bombed two Red Cross warehouses in Kabul on Oct. 25.
The Geneva-based ICRC "deplored" the bombing and claimed in its statement that the warehouses, which had been used by Taliban forces, were marked with large, nine-foot by nine-foot red crosses on white backgrounds that were "clearly displayed" on each roof.
It also said that bombing such marked buildings was "a violation of international humanitarian law."
The ICRC also said it had informed the U.S. military of the exact location of its warehouses after an earlier bombing on Oct. 16.
However, the Central Command investigation found that the ICRC was wrong, we are told by a defense official.
"Centcom did an investigation and found that the ICRC never gave us the coordinates and that the buildings were located in an industrial complex and that none of the buildings were marked," the official said.