Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Six members of one family were reported killed when a Coalition drone allegedly struck a vehicle distributing oil products to local people. Responding to questions from Airwars, an MoD spokesman said that no British Reaper drone strike took place in the vicinity of al Masahag on that date.
Bayji’s Mayor, Mohamed Mahmoud said in an interview that “Drone aircraft targeted a wheel loaded with oil derivatives to the north of Bayji killing six people, among them three brothers, all from the same family.” He said they were handing out oil derivatives to other families in the region. Mahmoud added that “the dead were all from the Jabour tribe of the people of Bayji, who had fled to the area after Daesh control of their area.”
On July 7th, 2017 – more than 2 years later – the Coalition confirmed responsibility for the incident, reporting: “May 13, 2015, near Bayji, Iraq, via Airwars report: During a strike on an ISIS weapons cache, it was assessed that six civilians may have been unintentionally killed.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Prior to the Coalition releasing the MGRS for this incident, Airwars had geolocated it to the nearest city at 35.004388, 43.473673
Summary
Sources (4) [ collapse]
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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May 13, 2015, near Bayji, Iraq, via Airwars report: During a strike on an ISIS weapons cache, it was assessed that six civilians may have been unintentionally killed.
Original strike reports
The coalition has confirmed heavy activity at Bayji around the time of the strike. On May 12th-13th 2015 it reported that “Near Bayji, four airstrikes struck one large and two small ISIL tactical units, destroying 10 ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL VBIED.”