Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Although reporting was confused, there were claims of a fresh coalition airstrike in the vicinity of Hawija which killed a number of civilians.
A Facebook page calling itself Hawija Now said that five women and 2 children died in the nearby village of Mahmoudiya. One extremely graphic image appears to show a woman survivor of the event, clutching the body of a horrifically injured child.
Interviewing eyewitnesses who later fled to Mosul, Al Khaleej said that the alleged strike took place shortly before the end of the day’s Ramadan fast, and targeted an Islamic State headquarters at a location known as the Riyadh grain silo: “According to witnesses, who spoke to our correspondent, coalition aircraft had dropped leaflets on the region, on Wednesday, urging residents to get out and to stay away from the headquarters of IS and its gatherings,, because they will be vulnerable to bombing; prompting dozens of families to leave Hawija towards Mosul.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Mahmoudiya (المحمودية) in Hawija as well as the Hawija’s grain silos and the industrial area surrounding it. The generic coordinates for the village of Mahmoudiya (المحمودية) are: 35.3936155, 43.9653113. The coordinates of the Hawija grain silos are: 35.3216711, 43.7828113. On satellite imagery of March 2016 available to Airwars the grain silos and the industrial zone around them seem to be completely destroyed. Due to limited satellite imagery available to Airwars, we were unable to further verify the date at which this destruction took place.
Summary
Sources (6) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (4) [ collapse]
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This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Image of a mother with her injured child (via Hawija Now) -
Image of a cild allegedly injured in the attack (via Hawija Now)
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Aftermath of the alleged strike (via Hawija Now)
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Aftermath of the alleged strike (via Hawija Now)
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographical area that correspond to the report of civilian casualties.
Original strike reports
The coalition confirmed an airstrike in the near vicinity for June 25th-26th 2015: “Near Al Huwayjah, one airstrike struck an ISIL mortar firing position.”