U.S. investigating Mosul airstrike that killed 100 civilians
BAGHDAD — The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group is investigating reports of an airstrike in a western neighborhood in the Iraqi city of Mosul that allegedly left more than 100 civilians dead last week, according to a statement given to The Associated Press.
The suspected high toll underscores the difficulties that Iraqi troops face in the weeks-long fight to route the Sunni militant group from the densely urban part of the city, Iraq’s second-largest. Residents of the neighborhood known as Mosul Jidideh told an Associated Press team at the scene that scores of residents are believed to have been killed by a pair of airstrikes that hit a cluster of homes in the area earlier this month.
One airstrike hit the residential area on March 13, followed by a second strike four days later, the residents said.
The coalition statement said “multiple allegations” were being investigated.
AP reporters saw at least 50 bodies being recovered from the wreckage of the buildings. A team of Iraqi rescue engineers worked to recover the bodies Friday, after being prevented from reaching the site for days due to fierce frontline clashes, according to Safaa Saadi Jawad, one of the engineers.
The coalition has “opened a formal civilian casualty credibility assessment on this allegation,” the statement continued, adding that coalition planes “routinely strike” IS targets in this area and that coalition forces “take all reasonable precautions during the planning and execution of airstrikes to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.”