February Air Strike The Result Of "Inaccurate And Unprofessional" Reporting By UAS Crews

The U.S. Military released a report Saturday that lays the blame for a mistaken February air strike in Afghanistan in the laps of the operators of the UAVs that directed the strike. As many as 23 civilians were killed when a civilian convoy was mistaken for an insurgent force and attacked.

In a written statement, military officials said that four senior officers had been reprimanded, and two junior officers had been "admonished" as a result of the attack. Such notations in their service records could be considered damaging to their careers.

The actual attack was carried out by a U.S. helicopter, which fired on a convoy comprised of three vehicles approaching the village of Khod on February 21st. A Special Forces commander on the ground believed the convoy was carrying reinforcements for the Taliban fighters engaged with Coalition forces in Khod.

The Washington Post reports that, according to the report, the Predator crews had been tracking the convoy for three and a half hours from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. The reports said the operators "deprived the ground force commander of vital information."

Predator Ground Station File Photo

According to the report, the operators missed the women who were riding in the convoy. While it indicated that they did report seeing children nearby, they thought only armed male combatants occupied the vehicles. The aircrews halted the attack when they noticed that it appeared there were women riding in the convoy vehicles, but by then 23 men had been killed, and the dozen wounded included a woman and three children.

The attack drew an official apology from U.S. NATO Commander in Afghanistan Stanley McChrystal. The apology was accepted by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who said in a statement that he was satisfied with the results of the investigation, and that a similar "deeply regrettable" incident would not happen in the future.

FMI: www.isaf.nato.int