Friday 29 January 2016

Airstrike targeting British hacker working for Isis killed three civilians instead, US admits

An August airstrike targeting a British hacker for the Islamic State (Isis) insteadkilled three civilians and wounded five more, the US military has announced.
A US airstrike meant for Junaid Hussain near the militant group’s Syrian capital of Raqqa on 13 August, instead killed noncombatants said to be “in the vicinity” of the strike.
The US Central Command had not previously acknowledged killing civilians instead of Hussain. An account it released Friday simply said the strike was “targeting” Hussain.
The UK military played a “consulting” role in the 24 August strike that actually killed Hussain, Central Command has previously confirmed to the Guardian.
Central Command did not provide any additional detail on the dead and wounded civilians. A spokesman, Lt. Commander Ben Tisdale, told the Guardian that Hussain was present at the site of the 13 August strike and wounded in it.

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