On Sunday morning the Pentagon announced it had successfully launched a drone strike against what officials said was an explosive packed vehicle occupied by two suicide bombers. The names of the terrorists targeted haven't been released.
But according to reporting from the ground, the strike ended up killing a family with small children.
Hours after a U.S. military drone strike in Kabul on Sunday, Defense Department officials said that it had blown up a vehicle laden with explosives, eliminating a threat to Kabul’s airport from the Islamic State Khorasan group.
But at a family home in Kabul on Monday, survivors and neighbors said the strike had killed 10 people, including seven children, an aid worker for an American charity organization and a contractor with the U.S. military.
Zemari Ahmadi, who worked for the charity organization Nutrition and Education International, was on his way home from work after dropping off colleagues on Sunday evening, according to relatives and colleagues interviewed in Kabul.
As he pulled into the narrow street where he lived with his three brothers and their families, the children, seeing his white Toyota Corolla, ran outside to greet him. Some clambered aboard in the street, others gathered around as he pulled the car into the courtyard of their home.
It was then that they say the drone struck.
This is Zemari's son, Farzad, sitting in the same courtyard we visited today. Also killed in the drone strike. pic.twitter.com/76qm7PNUQ7
— Matthieu Aikins (@mattaikins) August 30, 2021
Where did the Pentagon source the intel for this drone strike?
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellUSA) August 29, 2021
If the answer is the Taliban there better be hell to pay. https://t.co/QFou8GOAoS
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby was asked about the strike during Monday's press briefing and said the situation is under investigation.
.@Reuters's @IdreesAli114 also asked about reports of civilian casualties in the U.S. airstrikes.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 30, 2021
Kirby: "We're not in a position to dispute it right now...We're assessing and investigating." pic.twitter.com/OfHQj0JBCn
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