The US military has admitted responsibility for the deaths of 12 civilians in 2021, all in Afghanistan, reports a Pentagon report released on Tuesday.

“The Department of Defense estimates that 12 civilians were killed and five more injured in 2021 by US military operations,” according to an annual report required by Congress since 2018, some of which remain classified. All civilian casualties were killed in Afghanistan, the public part of the report said, AFP and Agerpres reported.

The Pentagon has already admitted responsibility for the deaths of ten family members, including seven children, during the chaotic operation to withdraw American troops from Kabul in late August 2021.

The public document said one civilian was killed in a US attack on January 8, 2021 in Herat and another on August 11 in Kandahar. On January 18, two civilians were also injured in Kandahar.

The U.S. military also acknowledged wounding three civilians on January 1, 2021, in an attack in Cunyo Barrow, Somalia.

In addition, the Pentagon re-estimated its death toll from 2018 to 2020, acknowledging ten more dead and 18 wounded, all in Syria.

Non-governmental organizations regularly publish significantly higher death tolls from US attacks in theaters of war.

In its annual report released in May, Airwars, which tracks civilian casualties from aerial bombings around the world, estimated between 15 and 27 civilians killed during US operations in Syria alone.

In January 2022, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called on the military to do more to avoid civilian casualties in airstrikes after several deadly incidents tarnished the reputation of the US military. Protecting civilians is a “strategic and moral imperative,” Austin said in a document addressed to the military command.