Britain paid compensation to the families of at least 64 children killed by UK military action in Afghanistan, a charity said – four times further than preliminarily conceded.
The London- grounded advocacy and exploration group Action on Armed Violence said on Wednesday it entered the information in response to freedom of information requests.
It said the UK paid compensation to the families of 64 children who were killed between 2006 and 2014. It said the youthful for whom age was recorded was 1 and the oldest 15. Airstrikes and being caught in the crossfire were the most common causes of death.
Action on Armed Violence said the average compensation payment was $1,894(1,656 pounds).
The group said the true census of child deaths from British military exertion could be as high as 135 because in some cases the people killed were listed as “son” or “son” with no age given.
Consequence of poor targeting?
It said there was “absolutely no substantiation that there was a deliberate targeting of civilians or children by the British service, and these tragedies must be marked down as a consequence of poor targeting,over-use of heavy artillery or fighting in populated areas.”
Britain’s Ministry of Defence preliminarily conceded paying compensation over the deaths of 16 children.
The ministry said in a statement Wednesday that “any mercenary death during conflict is a tragedy, more so when children and family members are involved. The UK fortified forces work hard to minimise that threat, which regrettably can noway be entirely excluded.”
“We probe reports of mercenary casualties and are always open to rethink where new information is submitted,” it said.
The ministry said it was “ following ” a US Department of Defense review of how it investigates mercenary casualties “and will take into account any issues that may help our own processes.”
further than 450 British colors failed in Afghanistan between the US- led irruption in 2001 and the end of UK combat operations in 2014.
