Pentagon Offers Condolences To 10 Civilians Including Children Victims Of Drone Attacks In Kabul

JAKARTA - The Pentagon has offered condolences to the families of 10 civilians killed in a drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The attack took place on August 29, two days before the deadline for the withdrawal of US troops from the country. The US Department of Defense said it had made commitments that included "voluntary funeral payments" and was working with the State Department to offer relocation to the US to families of victims.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said Colin Kahl, the U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, held a virtual meeting Thursday night with Steven Kwon, founder and president of Nutrition & Education International, the aid agency that employed Zemari Ahmadi who was killed in the drone strike.

Ahmadi and other civilians killed in the attack were innocent victims and were not linked to ISIS-K or a threat to US forces, Kirby said. Of the 10 victims who died, seven of them were children.

The Pentagon previously said the August 29 attack targeted an ISIS suicide bomber who could pose a potential threat to US forces at the airport as they complete the final stages of withdrawing from Afghanistan.

However, reports soon emerged saying that a US drone strike on a residential area west of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport had killed civilians including children.

Video from the scene shows pieces of a car strewn across the courtyard of a building. The Pentagon later said the attack was a "tragic mistake".

The attack came three days after an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 13 US troops and dozens of Afghan civilians who had gathered outside the airport gates to fight for seats on an evacuation flight, following the fall of the capital Kabul to the Taliban.

The killing of civilians also raises questions about the future of US counter-terrorism attacks in Afghanistan.