August 29 Afghan drone strike was 'an honest mistake': Pentagon
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Family members of victims gather after a US drone airstrike in Kabul killed 10 civilians in Afghanistan on August 29.(Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images)
New Delhi: A Pentagon inspector has said that the US drone strike that killed 10 Afghan civilians was an error and did not violate any laws, the BBC reported.
"It was an honest mistake," US Air Force Inspector Lieutenant General Sami Said told reporters, following an investigation.
The strike on August 29 had killed three adults, including a man who worked for a US aid group, and seven children.
It took place while attempts were on by Western nations to evacuate Afghans after the Taliban took control of the country, the BBC report said.
Lt Gen Said said there had been "execution errors, combined with confirmation bias and communications breakdowns" that led to "regrettable civilian casualties".
But he said an investigation had found "no violation of law, including the Law of War".
"It's not criminal conduct, random conduct, negligence," he added.
He said the US personnel who carried out the drone strike genuinely believed they were targeting "an imminent threat" from the Islamic State (IS) terror group to US forces and diplomatic staff at Kabul airport, the report added.
It came days after IS-K, the group's Afghanistan branch, said they were behind a a bomb attack outside Kabul airport, where thousands of Afghans had gathered to try to flee the country, killing at least 170 people including 13 US service personnel.
