A United States airstrike reportedly killed a family with Special Immigrant Visas about to escape Afganistan on Sunday.
The Gateway Pundit cited an interview of Al Jazeera English Correspondent Ali Latifi in BBC detailing a U.S. drone strike killing a family about to leave Afghanistan from the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Gateway Pundit also cited the social media postings of BBC World News Correspondent Yalda Hakim and a certain Atik Liman who likewise speak of the incident.
Hakim, who interviewed Latifi regarding the drone strike, revealed on Twitter that the family included 6 children with the youngest at 2 years old. All members have been killed by the U.S. missile.
"Afghan journalist Ali Latifi @alibomaye tells me he went to the house where 10 family members including 6 children were killed by a US drone strike and that, tragically, they had been issued with special visas and were about to leave the country," Hakim disclosed on Twitter.
Latifi similarly tweeted about the matter, which he described as a "horror scened", and pinned it in his profile.
"'Horror scene': Anger as US drone attack kills Afghan children (for @AJEnglish about 10 members of one family being killed Sunday, comments by @Emran_Feroz)," Latifi said in his post that included a link to his report on the attack.
Afghan journalist Ali Latifi @alibomaye tells me he went to the house where 10 family members including 6 children were killed by a US drone strike and that, tragically, they had been issued with special visas and were about to leave the country #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/WF2SDRLyAZ
"” Yalda Hakim (@BBCYaldaHakim) August 30, 2021
Liman, on the other hand, disclosed that the family of 10 were all Afghan civilians on board a car already near the airport when the missile killed them. Funeral prayers were recited for the family. Liman's post showed photos of the funeral service that was witnessed by many people and of the car that was burnt by the missile strike.
"Funeral prayers of 10 #Afghan civilians killed yesterday in #US drone strike in #Kabul. The missile targeted a car full of civilians near #KabulAiport. The youngest victim was a 2-year-old child," Liman posted on Tuesday.
Based on the reports, the drone strike was pertaining to the unmanned plane that the U.S. military used to fire on a car containing two suspected ISIS suicide bombers during the weekend. The United States Department of Defense announced that it "conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike" to eliminate "an imminent ISIS-K threat" to the airport.
The Department of defense affirmed that they confidently hit the targets, as well as an addition one but said they "have no indications" that there were "civilian casualties."
The Department of Defense said on Monday they were able to "force protection measures" to "thwart attacks" at the Kabul airport "to protect US service members, Afghans and Americans who are awaiting evacuation." The first airstrike involved a car while the second was done late in the evening of the same day.
"Late yesterday evening, as many as five rockets were fired at the HKIA airport. U.S. military forces successfully employed force protection measures to thwart that attack," Army Maj. Gen. William Taylor announced during the press briefing held on Saturday regarding the airstrikes," Taylor said.
"Commanders on the ground remain in contact with Taliban leaders around the airfield to deconflict and to prevent miscalculations and misunderstandings and so far that communication has been effective," he added.
In his report, Latifi said residents from the Kabul neighborhood narrated that those who died involved two families: the Ahmadis and Nejrabis. Both families have packed their belongings and awaiting escort to the airport for migration to the United States but their homes were hit by a rocket instead. The rocket was one of those fired by the U.S. military on suspected ISIS-K members. The ages of the family members who died ranged from two years to 40 years old.
Latifi interviewed a relative of the deceased, Aimal Ahmadi, who said his brother, Zemarai, came home from work. Zemrai and his family got into their car "to practice driving before they arrived in the U.S.". Zemarai initially only wanted to take the older boys since they are the ones in need of driving practice but the other children got in as well "wanting to take the short ride from the street to the garden of the family home."
"When the car had come to a stop, that's when the rocket hit," Aimal recounted.
Aimal then and the rest of their neighbors and relatives frantically ran to the scene with water "hoping to douse the flames that had spread from the Toyota sedan" that was packed with children. The neighbors then described the incident as a "horror scene."
Aljazeera said the U.S. military have already "launched investigations on the incident."
As of Monday, the Department of Defense announced that it has completed its evacuation operations in Afghanistan and has similarly ended "America's longest war."
