On this day in 2008, the US massacred 90 Afghan civilians (mostly women & children) gathering for a memorial service in the village of Azizabad. The US conducted continued air strikes on the village for 3 full hours; killing 60 children as they slept in their homes. 
The US attack included a drone strike & a barrage of howitzer fire from an AC 130 gunship, which killed 60 children aged 3 months to 16 years old as they slept. “It was a heartbreaking scene,” said Mohammad Iqbal Safi, head of the Afghan parliamentary defense committee.
Many of the dead were buried under heavy rubble; the US air strikes caused seven or eight houses to be “totally destroyed” and serious damage was done to many others in the village.
A local worker who survived the attack described the incident:
The US initially described the attack as a success, killing a Taliban leaders, then later the US denied that its forces massacred a large group of children.
usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…
usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…
The US has never taken full responsibility for the incident despite both the UN & Afghan organizations finding that a civilian massacre had occurred. Human Rights Watch criticized the US’s refusal to conduct a serious investigation into the attack.
nytimes.com/2008/08/27/wor…
nytimes.com/2008/08/27/wor…
The Afghan government paid a sum to the family of those killed and injured; however, the US military did not offer any monetary "condolences” to civilians and indicated no future plans to do so.
