BAGHDAD: The US-led coalition against the militant Islamic State group said on Saturday that it struck a location in west Mosul where civilians were reportedly killed by aerial bombing.

“An initial review of strike data... indicates that, at the request of the Iraqi security forces, the coalition struck (IS) fighters and equipment, March 17, in west Mosul at the location corresponding to allegations of civilian casualties,” it said in a statement.

Iraqi officials and witnesses said that strikes in west Mosul have killed dozens of people in recent days, but the number of victims could not be independently confirmed, and the toll from the specific strike referenced by the coalition was unclear.

It said at the beginning of this month that “it is more likely than not, at least 220 civilians have been unintentionally killed by coalition strikes”, while other incidents were still under investigation.

The US has been bombing IS in Iraq since August 2014, and international strikes against the jihadists have played a major role in helping the country’s forces push them back. The coalition has also carried out strikes against IS in Syria.

Iraqi aircraft have also been bombing the jihadists, but have not released figures on estimated civilian casualties from strikes they have carried out.

IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained much of the territory they lost.

They launched the operation to recapture Mosul in October, recapturing the city’s east before setting their sights on the smaller but more densely populated west.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2017

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