Aug 30, 2021: According to eyewitnesses, several children were killed in a US drone strike near the international airport in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, in which a car full of explosives was destroyed.

According to an on ground team of Al Jazeera Network in Afghanistan’s capital, eyewitnesses told them that at least three children were among the six civilians killed in Sunday’s attack.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it was aware of “reports of civilian casualties” following the drone strike in Afghanistan, which it said targeted “numerous suicide bombers” preparing to attack the ongoing evacuation at Kabul Airport.

The US Centcom has said it has launched an investigation.

The bomber struck as dozens of Afghans were trying to flee the Taliban. According to the Pentagon, 13 US soldiers were among the 175 victims when Kabul airport was attacked.

According to a statement made to the Associated Press by a senior US official, Sunday’s attack came as people were seen loading explosives into the boot of a car parked in a residential compound near Kabul Airport.The US military fired a Hellfire missile drone on to the car.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said that two members of the ISKP working in Afghanistan who were targeted were killed.

The Centcom said it was still “reviewing the results of the attack, which we know has prevented an ISIS threat to the airport.”

Regarding the recent attack in Afghanistan, they said the wreckage resulted in “substantial and powerful later explosions”, indicating that a large quantity of explosives had been stored there.

The Centcom said the secondary blasts could “cause additional casualties,” adding: “It is not clear what happened and we are investigating further.”

Meanwhile in Afghanistan capital Kabul, eyewitnesses reported a large explosion that shook the neighborhood where the car was parked, and television footage showed black smoke rising into the sky.

Eyewitness accounts of the attack all say children were likely killed in the attack.

Dina Mohammadi told the AP that her large family was living in the building and many of them, including children, were killed. She was not immediately available for comment.

Ahmeduddin said he had collected the bodies of children after the attack, which led to more explosions inside the house.

The CNN broadcaster reported nine civilian deaths. THey said all nine victims were members of the same family. “It would be very sad to see any possible loss of innocent lives,” the Centcom said.

There was no immediate comment from ISKP about the attack on the airport in Afghanistan capital Kabul.

The group, which claims to have carried out a suicide bombing at Kabul airport on Thursday, has previously bombed Afghanistan’s Shiite minority, including a 2020 attack on a Kabul maternity hospital that killed women and newborns.

The Taliban have fought this ISIS affiliates in the past and promised in talks with the United States last year that they would not allow Afghanistan to become a base for “terrorist attacks” on their own or others’ soil.

The US, which invaded Afghanistan after the September 2001 attacks, is due to withdraw all its troops from the country on August 31.

Since the rapid Taliban advance in Afghanistan and take over of Kabul the US along with its allies, has flown more than 114,000 Afghans and foreigners since the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15.