BAGHDAD—An air strike targeting Islamic State (IS) militants in the Iraqi city of Mosul that witnesses say killed at least 100 people was, in fact, launched by the US military, American officials said last Saturday.
US officials did not confirm the reports of civilian casualties but opened an investigation. In the days following the March 17 air strike, US officials had said they were unsure whether American forces were behind the attack.
The statement issued by the US-led coalition said the air strike had been requested by Iraqi security forces to target IS fighters and equipment “at the location corresponding to allegations of civilian casualties”.
US-backed government troops were fighting IS forces in that area of western Mosul, the statement said.
The coalition said it takes all allegations of civilian casualties seriously and a formal Civilian Casualty Credibility Assessment had been opened to determine the facts surrounding this strike and the validity of the allegation of civilian casualties.
“Our goal has always been for zero civilian casualties, but the coalition will not abandon our commitment to our Iraqi partners because of ISIS’s [Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] inhuman tactics terrorizing civilians, using human shields and fighting from protected sites, such as schools, hospitals, religious sites and civilian neighborhoods,” the coalition said.
Altaf Musani, representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Iraq, told The Associated Press (AP) in the Jordanian capital of Amman that the organization’s priority was quick treatment for those wounded.
“It is our understanding that there was an incident and we have worked with the local health actors and they have confirmed more than 100 are dead,” Musani said.
Musani said that, since the operations in Mosul began last October, there have been at least 5,300 people referred to hospitals in and around the city. He added that since the attack on western Mosul began last month, “we have managed to capture more than 1,300” cases.
“When you take a better look at what those numbers mean, what is worrying for the WHO and aid actors is that roughly 30 percent of the total numbers are women,” he said. “Roughly 30 percent of that large number are children under 15, and that is deeply concerning because of the capacities needed to treat those wounded coming out of the front lines.”
President Donald J. Trump campaigned on a promise to dramatically ramp up the assault on IS militants and has vowed to eradicate it.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met in recent days with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Ababi and foreign ministers from the coalition partners at the State Department to explore new ideas to expand the fight against IS in Mosul.
Earlier last Saturday, senior Sunni Muslim politicians expressed concern over reports of air strikes that allegedly killed the civilians. Residents reported two air strikes hitting a residential area on March 13 and 17. The Iraqi Defense Ministry has provided no immediate comment.
In tweets published on his official account, Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri said “we realize the huge responsibility the liberating forces shoulder” and call on them to “spare no effort to save the civilians”.
In a statement issued on his web site, Vice President Osama al-Nujaifi, himself from Mosul, described the incident as a “humanitarian catastrophe”, blaming the US-led coalition air strikes and excessive use of force by militarized Federal Police forces. Al-Nujaifi put the number of civilians killed at “hundreds”.
He called for an emergency parliament session and an immediate investigation into the incident.
Residents of the neighborhood known as Mosul Jidideh told the AP on Friday that scores of residents were believed to have been killed by two air strikes that hit a cluster of homes in the area. Resident Ahmed Ahmed said there were over a hundred people within the cluster taking refuge from the missiles.
AP reporters saw at least 50 bodies being recovered from the wreckage of the buildings.