The US launched a drone strike in Kabul on Sunday, killing a suicide car bomber preparing to attack the airport.
The strike is the second carried out by U.S. forces in Afghanistan since an Islamic State suicide bomber struck the airport on Thursday, killing 13 U.S. troops, 28 Talibans, and scores of Afghan civilians trying to flee the country.
On Friday the U.S. military launched a drone strike that it said targeted ISIS-K militants in Nangarhar Province, east of Kabul, killing two of the group’s planners and wounding a third.
A U.S. official said Sunday’s strike was carried out by an unmanned aircraft and that secondary explosions following the strike showed the vehicle had been carrying a “substantial amount of explosive material.”
But three children were killed alongside other civilian casualties of the drone attack, according to Al Jazeera.
“Some media reports say nine members of one family – including six children – were among the dead,” the cable news stated.
US President Joe Biden has yet to comment on the collateral damage.
According to witnesses, a large blast shaking a neighbourhood north of Hamid Karzai International Airport was heard, and television footage showed black smoke rising into the sky.
U.S. Central Command confirmed the strike and said in a statement that it had no immediate indication it caused any civilian casualties, but was investigating.
“We remain vigilant for potential future threats,” it said.
Biden had warned on Saturday that the situation on the ground in Kabul remained extremely dangerous, and that his military chiefs had told him another militant attack was highly likely within the next 24-36 hours.
U.S. officials had said they were particularly concerned about the local affiliate of Islamic State (ISIS-K) attacking the airport as American troops depart, in particular the threat from rockets and vehicle-borne explosives.