Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Local residents and press sources said that at least 15 civilians were killed and many more injured, mostly children and elderly people, by alleged Coalition airstrikes near Al Batool hospital in Zanjili.
Al Amaq [ISIL press agency] posted a video of the strikes on YouTube. Free journalist (Facebook) posted six graphic photos of several reported victims of the raids on Al-Batool hospital. It blamed the US.
Other reports placed the death toll at 85 with 215, though this referred to events in a number of neighbourhoods over two days.
In its July 2017 casualty report the Coalition appeared to reject claims that it had harmed civilians: “March 26, 2017, near Mosul, via self-report: After a review of available information and strike video it was assessed that no civilians were harmed in this strike.”
Coordinates for the strike placed it at a Pepsi factory about 300m from the al Batool hospital. However some confusion remains as there was a second alleged event at al Zanjili that day (see CI578).
A UN report on the protection of civilians in context of Nineveh operations and the retaking of Mosul stated: “In the morning of 27 March, an airstrike hit a warehouse in the al-Batoul Hospital in the ISIL-controlled neighbourhood of al-Zanjilly of western Mosul, reportedly killing three civilians and wounding five others, including a woman.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (12) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (5) [ collapse]
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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 and strike video it was assessed that no civilians were harmed in this strike.
Original strike reports
For March 26th-27th the Coalition stated: “Near Mosul, seven strikes, engaged four ISIS tactical units; destroyed six tunnels, three fighting positions, three vehicles, two mortar systems, a weapons storage facility, a front-end loader, a supply cache, and a heavy machine gun; damaged 17 supply routes; and suppressed six ISIS mortar teams and three ISIS tactical units.”