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Nine family members, including children, killed in US strike in Kabul targeting suspected ISIS-K suicide bomber, relative says
By Laura Smith-Spark, Sandi Sidhu, Nick Paton Walsh, Tim Lister, Oren Liebermann and Saskya Vandoorne, CNN
Updated 1432 GMT (2232 HKT) August 30, 2021
(CNN)Nine members of one family -- including six children -- were killed in a US drone strike targeting a vehicle in a residential neighborhood of Kabul, a relative of the dead told a local journalist working with CNN.
The US carried out a defensive airstrike in Kabul, targeting a suspected ISIS-K suicide bomber who posed an "imminent" threat to the airport, US Central Command said Sunday.
The youngest killed was a 2-year-old girl, according to a brother of the one of those killed.
They were "an ordinary family," he said. "We are not ISIS or Daesh and this was a family home -- where my brothers lived with their families."
Neighbors and witnesses at the scene of the drone strike in Kabul told CNN that several people were killed, including children.
"All the neighbors tried to help and brought water to put out the fire and I saw that there were five or six people dead," a neighbor told CNN. "The father of the family and another young boy and there were two children. They were dead. They were in pieces. There were [also] two wounded."
Another neighbor told CNN that they estimated that there might have been up to 20 people killed in the strike, "not much is left of their house and nothing can be recognized, they are in pieces."
Another witness told CNN that after the strike, neighbors and onlookers "removed six dead bodies" and believes that there are "children who are still missing."
The US military acknowledged later Sunday that there were reports of civilian casualties following the strike.
"We know that there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties. It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further," Capt. Bill Urban, spokesman for US Central Command, said in a statement.
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"We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life," he added.
US forces have been racing to complete their evacuation operation before Tuesday's deadline and under the threat of a new terror attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. A suicide bombing outside the airport gates on Thursday killed 13 US service members and at least 170 others.
Sunday's drone strike on a vehicle is the second by US forces targeting the ISIS-K terror group in the space of three days. A US official confirmed the location of the strike as being in Kabul's Khaje Bughra neighborhood.
"US military forces conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamid Karzai International Airport," the CENTCOM statement read.
"Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material," it added.
The Taliban, which is now in control of Afghanistan, condemned the strike later Sunday, saying the US had violated the country's sovereignty.
Bilal Kareemi, a Taliban spokesperson, told CNN that it was "not right to conduct operations on others' soil" and that the US should have informed the Taliban. "Whenever the US conducts such operations, we condemn them," he said.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/29/asia/afghanistan-kabul-evacuation-intl/index.html
By Laura Smith-Spark, Sandi Sidhu, Nick Paton Walsh, Tim Lister, Oren Liebermann and Saskya Vandoorne, CNN
Updated 1432 GMT (2232 HKT) August 30, 2021
(CNN)Nine members of one family -- including six children -- were killed in a US drone strike targeting a vehicle in a residential neighborhood of Kabul, a relative of the dead told a local journalist working with CNN.
The US carried out a defensive airstrike in Kabul, targeting a suspected ISIS-K suicide bomber who posed an "imminent" threat to the airport, US Central Command said Sunday.
The youngest killed was a 2-year-old girl, according to a brother of the one of those killed.
They were "an ordinary family," he said. "We are not ISIS or Daesh and this was a family home -- where my brothers lived with their families."
Neighbors and witnesses at the scene of the drone strike in Kabul told CNN that several people were killed, including children.
"All the neighbors tried to help and brought water to put out the fire and I saw that there were five or six people dead," a neighbor told CNN. "The father of the family and another young boy and there were two children. They were dead. They were in pieces. There were [also] two wounded."
Another neighbor told CNN that they estimated that there might have been up to 20 people killed in the strike, "not much is left of their house and nothing can be recognized, they are in pieces."
Another witness told CNN that after the strike, neighbors and onlookers "removed six dead bodies" and believes that there are "children who are still missing."
The US military acknowledged later Sunday that there were reports of civilian casualties following the strike.
"We know that there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties. It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further," Capt. Bill Urban, spokesman for US Central Command, said in a statement.
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"We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life," he added.
US forces have been racing to complete their evacuation operation before Tuesday's deadline and under the threat of a new terror attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. A suicide bombing outside the airport gates on Thursday killed 13 US service members and at least 170 others.
Sunday's drone strike on a vehicle is the second by US forces targeting the ISIS-K terror group in the space of three days. A US official confirmed the location of the strike as being in Kabul's Khaje Bughra neighborhood.
"US military forces conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamid Karzai International Airport," the CENTCOM statement read.
"Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material," it added.
The Taliban, which is now in control of Afghanistan, condemned the strike later Sunday, saying the US had violated the country's sovereignty.
Bilal Kareemi, a Taliban spokesperson, told CNN that it was "not right to conduct operations on others' soil" and that the US should have informed the Taliban. "Whenever the US conducts such operations, we condemn them," he said.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/29/asia/afghanistan-kabul-evacuation-intl/index.html
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