New figures have shown the number of children who died at the hands of British forces during fighting in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2014 was at least four times higher than what has been previously admitted.
There were 64 confirmed child victims in Afghanistan where the British paid compensation, although the number of children killed could be as high as 135, according to the London-based advocacy and research group Action on Armed Violence.
Prior documents released by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (MOD) had only revealed 16 confirmed child fatalities, it said.
Subsequent Freedom of Information requests revealed the MOD had not included an additional "Notes" column within the claims database.
“Access to this has provided far more information on hundreds of sparsely detailed fatality compensation cases,” the organisation said.
It said the average compensation payment for the Afghan victims was £1,656 ($2,939).
According to the report, there is no evidence UK forces deliberately targeted civilians or children.
It also stated that the deaths were likely due to poor targeting, over-use of heavy weaponry or fighting in populated areas.
"There was not enough evidence given by the MOD to detail the circumstances of each death, and sometimes the situation that led to a child's death was treated as cursory in the documentation," said AOVA.
The youngest recorded victim was a one-year-old baby boy killed in March 2009.
In September of the same year, an 18-month-old girl was also killed in Nad-e Ali, a district in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
Both were killed alongside their mother or "father's wife", and just over £3,000 pounds was paid for their deaths.
Crossfire and air strikes were the two most common specified causes of death, raising questions about the rules of engagement deployed by the British military in Helmand during that time.
Some 68 of the 135 confirmed and suspected child deaths were from air strikes, constituting some 50 per cent of all deaths.
The British defence ministry said in a statement that "any civilian death during conflict is a tragedy, more so when children and family members are involved.
"The UK armed forces work hard to minimise that risk, which regrettably can never be entirely eliminated."
"We investigate reports of civilian casualties and are always open to re-examine where new information is submitted," it said.
The ministry said it was "following" a US Department of Defense review of how it investigates civilian casualties "and will take into account any outcomes that may assist our own processes".
As per the Brown University's Cost of War project, about 243,000 people were killed in the Afghanistan and Pakistan war zone during the near 20-year military engagement that began with the toppling of the Taliban regime in 2001 and ended with their return to power last year.
More than 70,000 of those killed were civilians.
ABC/AP
