WASHINGTON: The US military said on Friday that a drone strike in Kabul last month killed as many as 10 civilians, including seven children, and it apologized for what the Pentagon said was a tragic mistake.
Senior USÂ officers had said the Aug. 29 strike that took place as foreign forces completed the last stages of their withdrawal from Afghanistan targeted a Daesh suicide bomber who posed an imminent threat to Kabul airport.
"At the time of the strike, I was confident that the strike had averted an imminent threat to our forces at the airport," USÂ General Frank McKenzie, the head of USÂ Central Command, told reporters. "Our investigation now concludes that the strike was a tragic mistake."
He said he now believed it unlikely that those who died were Daesh militants or posed a direct threat to US forces. The Pentagon was considering reparations for the civilians killed, McKenzie said.
Reports had emerged almost immediately that the drone strike had killed civilians including children. A spokesman for Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers, Zabihullah Mujahid, had said at the time that strike had killed seven people.
Pentagon says Kabul drone strike killed 10 civilians in ‘tragic mistake’
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![Pentagon says Kabul drone strike killed 10 civilians in ‘tragic mistake’]( "An Afghan inspects the damage of Ahmadi family house in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. (AP)")
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Updated 19 September 2021
Pentagon says Kabul drone strike killed 10 civilians in ‘tragic mistake’
- "At the time of the strike, I was confident that the strike had averted an imminent threat to our forces at the airport": McKenzie
- He said he now believed it unlikely that those who died were Daesh militants or posed a direct threat to US forces
