US military scolds six over deadly air strike in Afghanistan
By ANISunday, May 30, 2010
WASHINGTON - The US military has reprimanded six operators of an unmanned drone, which mistakenly attacked a civilian convoy in Afghanistan killing at least 23.
Warnings that the convoy was not an attacking force were ignored or played down, while the ground-force commander was not sure who was in the vehicles, an investigation found.
The deadly assault took place in Uruzgan Province in February. A NATO statement at the time said it was thought the convoy contained Taliban insurgents on their way to attack Afghan and foreign military forces.
The order to attack was based on inaccurate information from the crew monitoring the convoy from an Air Force base in Nevada and on flawed analysis by Nato commanders, a US military investigation said.
The reports said poorly functioning command posts “failed to provide the ground-force commander with the evidence and analysis that the vehicles were not a hostile threat”.
The botched strike happened despite General Stanley McChrystal’s introduction of much tougher rules of engagement in a bid to minimise such casualties. (ANI)
