US admits strike in Kabul killed 10 civilians, not IS militants

The US has admitted to making a “horrible mistake” after launching a drone strike that killed 10 civilians, including seven kids – and no ISIS militants.

A top general admitted the United States had made a “mistake” when it launched a drone strike against suspected Islamic State militants in Kabul, killing 10 civilians including children instead during the frenzied final days of the US pullout from Afghanistan last month.

The strike, a macabre coda to the 20-year US war in Afghanistan, was meant to target a suspected IS operation that US intelligence had “reasonable certainty” aimed to attack the Kabul airport, said US Central Command commander General Kenneth McKenzie.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologised to the relatives of those killed in a statement.

“We apologise, and we will endeavour to learn from this horrible mistake,” he said.

Intelligence reports had led US forces to watch for a white Toyota Corolla that the group was allegedly using, he said.

“Clearly our intelligence was wrong on this particular white Toyota,” he said.

Afghan residents and family members of the victims gather next to a damaged vehicle inside a house, the day after a US drone air strike. Picture: Wakil Kohsar/AFP

McKenzie defended the US operation as in “self-defence strike” amid concerns about an attack on the airport in the last days of the chaotic evacuation.

“There were over 60 clear threat vectors that we were dealing with at this time,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie said that no civilians had been spotted in the area at the time the strike was authorised.

Around 200 people attend a mass funeral for the 10 members of a family killed in the US attack. Picture: Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times

The drone strike, which was intended to target ISIS-K operatives, resulted in the deaths of aid worker Zamarai Ahmadi and up to nine of his family members, including seven children.

Caskets for the dead are carried towards the gravesite by grieving family and friends. Picture: Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times

According to U.S. officials, the strike on the vehicle, formerly believed to have been a threat that included bombs and that was operated by ISIS-K militants, took place after a suicide bombing at Kabul airport in Afghanistan killed 13 U.S. service members and civilians.

“On behalf of the men and women of the Department of Defense, I offer my deepest condolences to surviving family members of those who were killed, including Mr. Ahmadi, and to the staff of Nutrition and Education International, Mr. Ahmadi’s employer,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a lengthy statement on the investigation’s findings.

“We now know that there was no connection between Mr. Ahmadi and ISIS-Khorasan, that his activities on that day were completely harmless and not at all related to the imminent threat we believed we faced, and that Mr. Ahmadi was just as innocent a victim as were the others tragically killed.

“We apologise, and we will endeavour to learn from this horrible mistake,” Austin added, saying that officials “will scrutinise not only what we decided to do — and not do — on the 29th of August, but also how we investigated those outcomes.”

Afghanistan capital Kabul. The country is now being run by the Taliban. Picture: Bulent Kilic/AFP

“We owe that to the victims and their loved ones, to the American people and to ourselves,” Austin said.

All 10 people who were killed were from the Ahmadi family, with their heartbroken relatives holding a mass funeral late last month.

Earlier this week, Pentagon officials had continued to back the devastating drone attack, despite a New York Times investigation raising serious doubts about the credibility of the threat.