An August US drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 civilians was not caused by criminal negligence but by a series of errors, including not noticing a child minutes before the strike took place, an investigation by a military inspector general found on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
The Aug 29 strike killed 10 civilians, including seven children, in an incident the military previously called a "tragic mistake."
Initially, the Pentagon had said the strike targeted an Islamic State suicide bomber who posed an imminent threat to US-led troops at the airport as they completed the last stages of their withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The strike came days after an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 13 US troops and scores of Afghan civilians who had crowded outside the airport gates, desperate to secure seats on evacuation flights, after US-trained Afghan forces melted away and the Taliban swept to power in the capital.
An investigation by the Air Force inspector general said the strike was caused by execution errors, interpreting information that supported certain viewpoints, and communication breakdowns.
"It's a regrettable mistake. It's an honest mistake," Lieutenant General Sami Said, the Air Force inspector general, told reporters.