WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon has retreated from its defense of a drone strike that killed multiple civilians in Afghanistan last month. It announced Friday that an internal review revealed that only civilians were killed in the attack, not an Islamic State extremist as first believed.
For days after the Aug. 29 strike, Pentagon officials asserted that it had been conducted correctly, despite numerous civilians being killed, including children. News organizations later raised doubts about that version of events, reporting that the driver of the targeted vehicle was a longtime employee at an American humanitarian organization and citing an absence of evidence to support the Pentagon’s assertion that the vehicle contained explosives.
