US admits Afghanistan drone strike killed civilians

US admits Afghanistan drone strike killed civilians

By Semi Turaga
Saturday 18/09/2021
The aftermath of the drone strike in the Afghan capital, Kabul

The US has admitted that a drone strike in Kabul days before its military pullout killed 10 innocent people.

BBC News reports a US Central Command investigation found that an aid worker and nine members of his family, including seven children, died in the 29 August strike.

The youngest child was just two years old.

The deadly strike happened days after a terror attack at Kabul airport, amid a frenzied evacuation effort following the Taliban's sudden return to power.

It was one of the US military's final acts in Afghanistan, before ending its 20-year military operation in the country.

US intelligence had tracked the aid worker's car for eight hours, believing it was linked to IS-K militants - a local branch of the Islamic State (IS) group.

At one point, a surveillance drone saw men loading what appeared to be explosives into the boot of the car, but it turned out to be containers of water.

The explosion set off a secondary blast, which US officials initially said was proof that the car was indeed carrying explosives.

However, the investigation has found it was most likely caused by a propane tank in the driveway.

Many of those killed had been hoping to board one of the evacuation flights leaving the city, which fell to the Taliban on 15 August.

The last US soldier left Afghanistan on 31 August - the deadline President Joe Biden set for the US withdrawal.

[Source: BBC]

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