- U.S. drones attacked Kabul, allegedly a threat to the Islamic State, killing 10 people, including children, in densely populated communities.
- U.S. officials have been in a state of tension since ISIS suicide bombers caused a massive explosion at the entrance of Kabul Airport.
- Nearly 100 Afghans were killed in the explosion, and 13 American soldiers were killed.
On Sunday night, when Ezmarai Ahmadi came home from get off work in Kabul, a group of children screaming as usual were waiting to greet him-his son and daughter, and a group of nieces and nephews.
He drove his white car into the driveway of a humble house in Kwaja Burga, a densely populated northwestern Afghan capital, and gave the key to his eldest son to park.
The young man squeezed into the car—pretending that parking was an adventure—and Ezmarai watched it from the side.
Immediately afterwards, in the blue sky of Afghanistan, a missile screamed and fell, hitting the car with terrible force, and instantly destroying the lives of 10 people.
The United States said on Sunday that it destroyed a vehicle full of explosives in an air strike, thwarting an attempt by the Islamic State (ISIS) to detonate a car bomb at the Kabul airport.
On Monday, it looked like they might have made a terrible mistake.
“I lost my little daughter”
“The rocket came and hit our house full of children’s cars,” said Ezmalee’s brother Aimal Ahmadi (Aimal Ahmadi).
“It killed them all.”
Aimar said that 10 family members were killed in the airstrike, including his own daughter and five other children.
When AFP visited the scene on Monday, Aimar was anxiously waiting for the arrival of other relatives to help him arrange the funeral for most of his family.
He said depressed:
My brother and his four children were all killed. I lost my little daughter…nephew and niece.
US military spokesman Captain Bill Urban said in a statement: “We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following an attack on a car in Kabul.”
The “imminent” ISIS threat
Aimal could hardly believe that his brother would be mistaken for ISIS sympathizers, let alone the agents who planned to launch the deadly car bomb attack.
Ezmarai is an engineer working in an NGO-an ordinary Afghan struggling to make ends meet during turbulent times.
Since the ISIS suicide bomber triggered a massive explosion at the airport entrance on Thursday, the United States has been nervous as a large crowd clamored to enter the airport, hoping to board the last evacuation flight from Afghanistan.
Just days before the last American soldier evacuated from Afghanistan on Monday night, nearly 100 Afghans and 13 American soldiers were killed.
In this context, the US intelligence agency warned that another attack was about to happen, and the US military said on Sunday that it had stopped the attack before it happened.
“We are still evaluating the results of this attack, and we know that this attack undermined the imminent ISIS-K threat to the airport,” Urban said on Sunday, using the acronym for the Afghanistan branch of the Islamic State.
He continued:
We know that due to the destruction of the vehicle, a large number of powerful explosions followed, indicating that there was a large number of explosives in the vehicle, which may have caused additional casualties.
“It is unclear what might have happened, and we are investigating further.”
“All the children were killed”
These deaths were among the last reported deaths after 20 years of brutal war and before the last U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan on Tuesday.
According to data from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, between 2009 and the end of 2020, more than 38,000 civilians were killed. The mission began to systematically record civilian casualties in 2009.
Over 70 000 people were injured during the same period.
When the locals heard the explosion nearby, they quickly rushed to see what help they could provide.
A man named Sabir said:
All the children were killed in the car, and the adults were killed outside the car. The car is on fire-we can hardly find any body parts.
A US spokesperson said in a statement: “We will be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent lives.”
But these words are empty to another neighbor, Rasheed Nori.
“The Taliban killed us, [ISIS] Kill us, the Americans kill us,” he said.
“Do they all think our children are terrorists?”
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