In Afghanistan, at least six people, including three children, were killed in a U.S. drone attack near the Kabul airport Sunday. Some reports say the total number of victims was 10 people, including seven children. This is a local resident who lives near the site of the attack.
Khoja Boghra resident: “This is the Khoja Boghra neighborhood, and we live here. A rocket came and hit a house, and six or five people died. I have nothing else to say, and we are distraught.”
Local reporters are investigating whether the attack missed its intended target when it killed the civilians. It was the second airstrike by U.S. forces after Thursday’s attack by ISIS-K, an archenemy of the Taliban, at the Kabul airport, which killed at least 175 people, including 13 U.S. soldiers.
The U.S. military said it shot down rockets fired at the airport this morning, just one day ahead of its withdrawal deadline. On Saturday, the U.S. said it was ending military evacuations of Afghans after flying 117,000 people out of the country over two weeks. Hundreds of students and staff from the American University who were awaiting evacuation were reportedly turned away.
The U.N. Security Council is holding another emergency meeting in New York today. Meanwhile, the U.N. Refugee Agency is urging neighboring countries to keep their borders open, warning half a million people could flee Afghanistan between now and the end of the year. Over half a million Afghans have already been displaced by conflict since January.