America’s top military commander in Afghanistan has taken action against those accused of killing two local youths who were tending their farms in the eastern province of Kunar.

General David Petraeus suspended a ground forces commander and the helicopter air weapons team that opened fire on two boys, age 10 and 15, who were watering their field, and not planting a roadside bomb, as initially suspected.

“We know we cannot succeed if we harm the people we are striving to protect,” Petraeus said in a prepared statement after announcing the suspensions of the military personnel involved in the attack. Disciplinary action may be taken against the soldiers once a formal investigation is completed.

Twice this month Petraeus has had to issue public apologies for U.S. attacks on children. On March 1, nine boys in Kunar were killed while gathering firewood on a mountainside, after being mistaken for insurgents.

-Noel Brinkerhoff