The US admits the killing of innocent civilians in a drone strike in Kabul.
A general expressed his "deep condolences" to the victims.
Kabul / Munich - Ten civilians died by a US drone, and none of them were with IS: The American armed forces have admitted that they killed ten innocent civilians, seven of them children, in a drone attack in the Afghan capital Kabul at the end of August.
The drone attack a few days after a bloody attack at Kabul airport was a "tragic mistake," said the head of the central command of the US armed forces, General Kenneth McKenzie, on Friday.
McKenzie said of the attack, "We now consider it unlikely that the vehicle and those killed were linked to ISIS-K or posed a direct threat to US forces," McKenzie said.
The Afghan branch of the jihadist militia Islamic State (IS) is known as ISIS-K or IS-K.
US General: At the time, the armed forces were convinced that the vehicle was dangerous
According to McKenzie, the US armed forces acted on August 29 with the firm belief that the vehicle posed a danger to US soldiers and people waiting to leave the Kabul airport.
An army investigation has now found that this was a mistake.
The general apologized and offered his "deep condolences" to the victims' families and friends, as well as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
He promised that the US would learn from this "terrible mistake".
Doubts quickly arose about the original US version.
The US armed forces initially announced at the end of August that the target of the drone attack was an IS vehicle loaded with explosives, which posed an imminent threat to Kabul airport.
A relative of one of the victims claimed that his dead brother worked for a non-governmental organization.
Video footage from the
New York Times also
revealed the truth.
This was preceded three days before the drone attack by an IS suicide bomber in the middle of the ongoing evacuation operation at Kabul airport, who killed around a hundred people.
13 US soldiers were among the victims.
(cg with dpa)