‘We want justice,’ say the family of 10 civilians killed in a US airstrike that officials now say was ‘a mistake’

Zamarai Ahmadi and nine other civilians, including seven children, were killed in a US airstrike in Kabul on August 29. For nearly three weeks, US officials kept insisting the strike was “righteous” and that at least one ISIS-K facilitator was killed.On Friday, the “The US [knew] that inside this area, Emal Ahmadi said no US officials have reached out to the family directly. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III has offered his condolences in a statement issued on Friday, calling Ahmadi an “innocent victim” whose activities were “completely harmless.” “We apologize, and we will endeavor to learn from this horrible mistake,” he said. Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, said the Pentagon was considering reparations payments to the family and said that while it was “very difficult” to reach out to people “on the ground in Afghanistan,” they will be attempting to do so.When asked what they want from the US, Emal Ahmadi and his brother Romal, whose three children — Aayat, 2, Binyamen, 6, and Armin, 7 — were also killed in the strike, said “justice.” At a dusty Kabul cemetery where his children, brother and other family members were laid to rest just few weeks ago, Romal Ahmadi told CNN he wants the drone operators to to be tried for the killings in court. The family had to borrow money to pay for the funerals, there were so many at one time they couldn’t afford to pay from their own pocket.Asked whether he could ever forgive the US for what happened, Emal Ahmadi said “maybe.””But how should I do [that] … I lost my family … no one is able to return them back,” he said.CNN’s Anna Coren, Sandi Sindu and Julia Hollingsworth contributed to this article.