A botched US drone strike in Syria last year killed a shepherd after he was wrongly identified as a high-ranking Al Qaeda operative.
The Pentagon has admitted that a civilian leader, not a terrorist leader, was killed on May 3, 2023, following an internal Central Command (CENTCOM) investigation.
The victim has since been identified as 56-year-old father-of-ten Lufti Hasan Masto, who was killed while tending his sheep.
An MQ-9 predator drone was monitoring his movements in the fields surrounding his home in the rural town of Qorqanya when a Hellfire missile was fired in his direction.
Mohammed Hassan Masto sits next to the grave of his brother Lutfi, who was killed in a failed US drone strike in May 2023 after being mistaken for an Al Qaeda operative
Masto’s brother told me WashingtonPost they drank tea twenty minutes earlier.
Videos and photos show a plume of smoke rising into the air after the explosion.
Masto’s neighbors called White Helmets – the emergency
The suspect the US thought they were tracking is believed to still be at large.
CENTCOM “determined that U.S. forces misidentified the intended Al Qaeda target and that a civilian, Mr. Lufti Hasan Masto (Masto), was struck and killed instead.”
However, officials said the strike was carried out in accordance with the law and as a result no one was punished.
Videos and photos show a plume of smoke rising into the air after the explosion
An MQ-9 predator drone (pictured) was tracking Masto’s movements in the fields surrounding his home in the rural town of Qorqanya when a Hellfire missile was fired in his direction
The family has not received compensation after the Ministry of Defense deemed it ‘not appropriate’.
The Pentagon has faced constant criticism for its drone program during the post-9/11 conflicts.
In August 2021, the US wrongfully killed ten civilians – including seven children – in an airstrike in Kabul.
The Pentagon initially said it was a successful operation against ISIS-K members who plotted more suicide bombings at Hamid Karzai International Airport the same month.
DailyMail.com has contacted Central Command for further comment.
More to follow