Friday, 20th September 2024

How American drone attacks killed children and civilians in Afghanistan

A family member of those killed in the US drone strike has told that 10 of their family members, including six children, were killed in the attack

Monday, 30th August 2021

Afghanistan: A family member of those killed in the US drone strike has told that 10 of their family members, including six children, were killed in the attack. On Sunday, 10 people were killed in an explosion in a car parked in their house. The US military said it had targeted a car carrying at least one person linked to the Afghanistan branch of the ISIS-K group. The US had also said that the people around may have been affected due to the drone attack. It has been learned that some of those killed had previously worked for international organizations and had US visas. Sumaya, the youngest child to be killed, was just two years old. The eldest child was Farzad, who was 12 years old. Ramin Yusufi, a relative of the dead, said, "This is wrong, it is a brutal attack, and it is based on misinformation." Another relative, Emaal Ahmadi, told that his two-year-old daughter had died in the attack. Ahmadi said that he and his family members had applied to go to the US and were waiting for a phone call to go to the airport. Nasir was also among those who had applied to go to America. Nasser had served as an interpreter with the US military. Ahmadi says that America "made a mistake. It was a huge mistake." The Central Command of the US Army has said that they are investigating the incident, but they are not yet able to clearly explain how these 10 people died. The Central Command said in a statement that the drone strike was followed by several "powerful explosions". According to him, "there was a large amount of explosive material inside, which would have caused more deaths due to the explosion." The US military had earlier said that it had succeeded in eliminating the threat to Kabul's Hameed Karzai International Airport from an organization named ISIS-K. Last Thursday, a suicide attack outside Kabul airport killed more than 100 Afghan civilians and 13 US soldiers. The 'Islamic State in Khorasan' had taken responsibility for this attack. Among the dead were hoping to board one of the flights leaving Afghanistan to get away from the Taliban. As the deadline of August 31 to evacuate Kabul airport was approaching, the US had repeatedly warned of attacks around the airport. On Monday, an official told a news agency that a US anti-missile system had intercepted rockets fired toward the airport from over Kabul. Videos and photos from local news outlets showed smoke rising on the roofs of Kabul, and burning cars on the road. The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden was briefed about the missile attack. Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement: "The President was informed that the operation at Kabul Airport is continuing uninterrupted. He is following orders that commanders should take whatever measures are necessary to protect their forces." No American or Afghan casualties have been reported from Monday's incident. The US military has installed an anti-rocket and mortar system to protect the airport from any possible attack. The incident was reported by BBC News