KABUL — A U.S. drone strike targeting the Islamic State killed 10 civilians in Kabul, including several small children, family members told The Washington Post on Monday.
The dead were all from a single extended family who were exiting a car in their modest driveway when the strike hit a nearby vehicle, said Abdul Matin Azizi, a neighbor who saw the attack. Azizi, 20, said the explosion occurred as the family returned home Sunday afternoon.
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Mourners gathered at a neighbor’s home under the shade of a grape arbor. A woman, her face raw from sobbing, approached the garden’s entrance in hysterics.
“I lost my daughter, I lost my heart,” she screamed, calling out to God before a group of women surrounded her, trying to calm her down. Suma Ahmadi’s 2-year-old daughter and three of her brothers were killed in the explosion, said Ahmad Fayaz, a relative.
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Growing faint and unable to speak, Ahmadi was helped back into the shade. Fayaz said she was in hysterics all night, unable to sleep or eat. In total, eight children and young adults were killed in the attack, Fayaz said, but the exact ages of the victims were unclear.
The Taliban condemned the attack and announced it is investigating allegations of civilian casualties.
U.S. Central Command said the strike Sunday destroyed an Islamic State car bomb that posed an “imminent” threat to Kabul’s airport.
“We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul,” it said in a statement Sunday. “It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further. We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life.”
The attack is the second U.S. drone strike in response to a suicide bombing and gunfire attack outside Kabul Airport on Thursday that killed 13 U.S. troops and more than 170 civilians trying to flee the country.