A Yemeni child prays by the graves of students who were killed by a Saudi-led coalition airstrike at a cemetery in Saada, Yemen, on September 4, 2018.

Washington, June 4 (RHC)-- Human rights groups are accusing the Joe Biden administration of vastly underreporting the number of civilians killed by the U.S. military in 2020.   A Pentagon report made public on this week claims that U.S. forces killed 23 civilians last year during military strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.  

The British watchdog group Airwars says that, even by a conservative estimate, the true toll is nearly five times higher, at 102 civilian deaths.  Airwars says the official Pentagon count ignores the killing of 69 civilians in Afghanistan flagged by U.N. monitors, among other shortcomings. 

Airwars also says the Pentagon failed to pay out any compensation to civilians affected by U.S. attacks in 2020, even though Congress made millions of dollars available for such payments.