Calling it a “tragic mistake,” the U.S. Department of Defense admitted Friday that it had killed 10 people, including seven children, in a drone strike that wrongly targeted an aid group worker in Afghanistan late last month.
“I offer my profound condolences to the family and friends of those who were killed,” Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said at a Pentagon briefing on Friday afternoon. “It was a mistake, and I offer my sincere apology.”
McKenzie added that the U.S. was exploring the possibility of payments to compensate the families of the victims.
The Aug. 29 drone strike came in response to a bombing days earlier at the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service members as evacuations continued in the waning days of the U.S. withdrawal from the country.
A Hellfire missile launched from the U.S. drone killed 10 people in a Kabul neighborhood, with officials saying they were targeting an ISIS-K terrorist who was planning to use a car packed with explosives in a suicide attack. (YahooNews)