Geolocation
Airwars assessment
An Iraqi military source said that Coalition airstrikes bombed three civilian houses, killing 12 civilians and injuring 18 others in Al Arabi neighborhood, northeast of Mosul.
Alghad.tv cited a statement published by Turkish state news agency Anatolia, speaking of “about five airstrikes on three houses in the Arabi neighborhood” carried out by the international Coalition. A police source furthermore reported that “the raid killed 12 civilians, including four children, and wounded 18 others, destroyed homes and damaged about 8 cars”. Several sources called the incident “a mistake of the international Coalition”.
In a March 4th report which may report to this event or to a new incident, the Coalition noted: “Jan. 14, 2017, near Mosul, Iraq, via self-report: During a counter-fire strike on an ISIS mortar team it was assessed that one civilian was unintentionally killed when he entered the target area after weapon was fired.”
Officials later informed Airwars that the incident took place at grid coordinates 38SLF2982730681. Our geolocators have placed this at the Rashadiyah neighbourhood, northern Mosul, which is one kilometer from Al-Arabi.
Summary
Sources (4) [ collapse]
Attached to this civilian harm incident is a provisional reconciliation of the Pentagon's declassified assessment of this civilian harm allegation, based on matching date and locational information.
The declassified documents were obtained by Azmat Khan and the New York Times through Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits filed since March 2017, and are included alongside the corresponding press release published by the Pentagon. Airwars is currently analysing the contents of each file, and will update our own assessments accordingly.
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
For January 13th-14th the Coalition publicly stated: “Near Mosul, four strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit; destroyed four fighting positions, two heavy machine guns, two watercraft, an ISIL headquarters building, a VBIED; and damaged eight supply routes.”