Intelligence officials warned the U.S. military — too late — that children may have been in or near a car targeted in an Aug. 29 drone strike in Kabul which left 10 innocents dead, according to a report.
It’s unclear exactly when the CIA’s alert was issued, said CNN, which cited three anonymous sources who noted there were just seconds to spare before the Hellfire missile hit Zmaray Ahmadi’s Toyota Corolla.
The Biden administration has been forced to backpedal on initial claims the strike had cut down a terrorist who was an “imminent threat” to the country, acknowledging Friday that Ahmadi, an aide worker, was an innocent.
“I am now convinced that as many as 10 civilians, including up to seven children, were tragically killed in that strike,” Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., head of U.S. Central Command, said Friday, adding, “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.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a statement calling Zemari an “innocent victim,” adding, “we apologize.”
