Relatives of Afghan family killed in US strike demand in-person apology, compensation
KABUL (AFP) - Relatives of the victims of a US drone strike that wiped out 10 members of an Afghan family in a "tragic mistake" demanded a face-to-face apology and compensation on Saturday.
Ezmarai Ahmadi was wrongly identified as an Islamic State militant by US intelligence, which tracked his white Toyota for eight hours on August 29 before targeting the car with a missile, killing seven children and three adults.
A top general admitted the attack was an error, and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologised to the relatives of those killed.
However, Ahmadi's 22-year-old nephew, Farshad Haidari, said that was not enough.
"They must come here and apologize to us face-to-face," he told AFP in a bombed-out, modest house in Kwaja Burga, a densely populated neighborhood in the northwest of the Afghan capital.
Haidari, whose brother Naser and young cousins also died, said the US had made no direct contact with the family.
"They must come and compensate," he said. "They were not terrorists, and now it is clear for them and all the world to see," he said of his relatives.
Haidari added that he wanted officials to "capture and prosecute" those responsible for firing the missile.
"Most of them had worked with Americans," Haidari said. "Naser had worked with Americans for about 10 years. My uncle had also worked with international organizations."
At the time of his death Ahmadi was working for a US aid group.