US admits Kabul drone strike killed 10 civilians

The US military said yesterday that a drone strike in Kabul last month killed as many 10 civilians, including seven children, and it apologised for what the Pentagon said was a tragic mistake.

Senior US officers had said the August 29 strike that took place as foreign forces completed the last stages of their withdrawal from Afghanistan targeted a Daesh suicide bomber.

“At the time of the strike, I was confident that the strike had averted an imminent threat to our forces at the airport,” US General Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said. “Our investigation now concludes that the strike was a tragic mistake.”

The Pentagon was considering reparations for the civilians killed, McKenzie said. The Taliban had said the strike had killed seven.