Afghan survivors of US drone strike: Sorry 'is not enough'

Kabul: Sorry is not enough for the Afghan survivors of an errant US drone strike that killed 10 members of their family, including seven children.

Emal Ahmadi, whose 3-year-old daughter Malika was killed on Aug. 29, when the US hellfire missile struck his elder brother's car, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the family demands Washington investigate who fired the drone and punish the military personnel responsible for the strike.

That is not enough for us to say sorry, said Ahmadi.

The USA should find the person who did this."

Ahmadi said the family is also seeking financial compensation for their losses and demanded that several

members of the family be relocated to a third country, without specifying which country.

The AP and other news organizations in Kabul reported after the strike that the driver of the targeted

vehicle, Zemerai Ahmadi, was a longtime employee at an American humanitarian organization and cited an absence of evidence to support the Pentagon's

assertion that the vehicle contained explosives.

The missile struck as the car was pulling into the family's driveway and the children ran to greet Zemerai.

On Friday, US Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, called the strike a tragic mistake," and after weeks of denials, said that innocent civilians were indeed killed in the attack and not an Islamic State extremist as was announced earlier.

The drone strike followed a devastating suicide bombing by the Islamic State group a rival of the Taliban that killed 169 Afghans and 13 US military personnel at one of the gates to the Kabul airport.

For days, desperate Afghans had swarmed the checkpoints

outside the airport, trying to leave the country amid the chaotic US and NATO troops pullout, fearing for their future under the Taliban.

McKenzie apologized for the error and said the United States is considering making reparation payments to the family of the victims.