CENTCOM Says No Isis Killed In August 29th Drone Strike, Confirms 10 Civilian Deaths
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: September 18th, 2021 03:10AM UTC
Last Modified: September 18th, 2021 03:10AM UTC
WASHINGTON - General McKenzie, the head of Central Command (CENTCOM) has announced that no ISIS-K terrorists were in likely killed in the U.S. drone strike on August 29th, but that 10 civilians, including 7 children were killed in the strike on the aid worker's vehicle that was transporting water.
The drone strike had been deemed a 'righteous strike' by General Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs of Staff but General McKenzie, while briefing the media at the Pentagon after a US Military investigation of the incident stated, "We now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or a direct threat to US forces".
"This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport, but it was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology" he continued while saying that he is "fully responsible for this strike and this tragic outcome".
The Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin put out a statement saying, "On behalf of the men and women of the Department of Defense, I offer my deepest condolences to surviving family members of those who were killed, including Mr. Ahmadi, and to the staff of Nutrition and Education International, Mr. Ahmadi’s employer".
"We now know that there was no connection between Mr. Ahmadi and ISIS-Khorasan, that his activities on that day were completely harmless and not at all related to the imminent threat we believed we faced, and that Mr. Ahmadi was just as innocent a victim as were the others tragically killed" his statement continued.
"We apologize, and we will endeavor to learn from this horrible mistake," Austin added, saying that officials "will scrutinize not only what we decided to do -- and not do -- on the 29th of August, but also how we investigated those outcomes".
Austin concluded in his statement, "We owe that to the victims and their loved ones, to the American people and to ourselves".
There have been unconfirmed reports, not verified by the Pentagon that prior to the U.S. drone strike, Washington was purposefully given misinformation by the Taliban which lead to the hellfire missile being fired on the civilian vehicle.
No disciplinary actions are expected according to officials in Washington and the U.S. military officially stands by their intel assessment that lead to the drone strike on the aid worker's vehicle.
