Defense Ministry Paid Compensation For Deaths Of 64 Children In Afghanistan

The British government has paid compensation for the deaths of many more children during military operations in Afghanistan than it has publicly acknowledged, reports the BBC News.

Figures obtained by the charity Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) through Freedom of Information requests showed that the U.K. has issued compensation payments for the deaths of 64 children from 2006 to 2014. The government only acknowledged 16 such deaths over that period.

Airstrikes and being caught in crossfire were among the most common causes of the deaths.

AOAV says that it estimates that around 135 children were killed due to the vagueness of some defense ministry reports.

Most of the 881 fatality claims made to the British government were rejected, with only a quarter receiving compensation.

In total, the ministry paid 688,000 pounds (US$789,500) to compensate for 2889 civilian deaths from 2006 to 2014.