US sees role in Mosul strikes, orders probe
The senior US commander in Iraq acknowledged on Tuesday that the US-led coalition probably had a role in an explosion in Mosul believed to have killed scores of civilians but said Islamic State militants could also be to blame.
As investigators probe the blast, Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend strongly defended US behaviour in the war and pushed back against accusations the United States had loosened safeguards meant to protect civilians as it ramps up the battle against Islamic State.
Still, he said increases in casualties were to be expected as the war against the insurgents entered its deadliest phase in Mosul’s Old City.
“My initial assessment is that we probably had a role in these casualties,” Townsend told a Pen- tagon news briefing, speaking by teleconference.
“Now, here’s what I don’t know. What I don’t know is were they (the civilians) gathered there by the enemy? We still have some assessments to do.”
Amnesty International has said the civilian toll suggested US-led forces had failed to take adequate precautions to prevent civilian deaths.
The United States has about 5,200 troops in Iraq, the Pentagon says. Officials say two more companies of US soldiers, just under 300 troops, are headed to Iraq on a temporary deployment.
Witnesses on Sunday described horrific scenes of body parts strewn over rubble, residents trying desperately to pull out survivors and other people buried out of reach.
The Iraqi military’s figure of 61 bodies was lower than that given by local officials — a municipal official said on Saturday that 240 bodies had been found.
If confirmed, the toll would be one of the worst since the 2003 US-led invasion, raising questions about civilian safety as Iraq’s Shia-led government tries to avoid alienating Mosul’s mostly Sunni population.
Iraq’s military has blamed militants for rigging a building with explosives to cause civilian casualties, but witnesses say it was collapsed by an air strike, burying many families .