Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CI794

Incident date

June 30, 2017

Location

الموصل القديمة, Mosul, Old City neighbourhoods, Nineveh, Iraq

Geolocation

36.34075, 43.126911 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Neighbourhood/area level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Local press and resident sources said that dozens to hundreds of civilians, including the bodies of ‘hundreds of children and women’, were under the rubble in various areas in Old Mosul. Heavy shelling and air strikes had allegedly hit their homes. Local media provided striking accounts of streets filled with dead bodies, and called for help to save the families under the rubble.

The Nineveh Media Center and mutliple other sources said that “hundreds of bodies of civilians [were] under the rubble in the areas of the Great Mosque and Sargkhana and Ras al-Kor and Bab Laksh and in the vicinity of Khalid Bin Al-Walid Street.” It said that most of these civilians died in air strikes.

Mosul Eye (local press) reported the same information on Facebook, launching the following appeal: “We urge the Coalition to immediately intervene in rescuing tens of families who are still under the rubble as the civil defence teams are not capable of rescuing them. There are tens of children and women who still alive under the rubble at those locations. Those areas are already liberated .. they must be rescued immediately now. All the area around this: 36.343166, 43.121770.”

Iraqyoon Agency also said that Iraqi civil defense teams were no longer able to do the rescue work, given the “magnitude of the disaster”.

In a striking account, Alaraby News said on Friday June 30th that: “In the streets, the bodies of civilians fill the sidewalks, and inside the destroyed houses there is evidence that dozens of bodies are beneath [the rubble], where smells are emitted and dogs are barking around, amid reports that hundreds of civilians have been hit by shelling in their homes during the past two days.”

A rescue worker had furthermore told Al Jazeera news that “the area around the [Grand Nuri] mosque has dozens of bodies that are still under the rubble and have not been removed for days.”

According to Al Jazeera, the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights spoke with eyewitnesses who had managed to flee the Old city and said that heavy shelling killed dozens of civilians. The witnesses could not say what the exact source of the bombing was.

BBC Arabic published video material and interviews with eyewitnesses who were still trapped in Old Mosul. One woman in the reportage said that her son was killed by an air strike, and she only needs to bury his body.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    12 – 100
  • Civilians reported injured
    24–100
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    US-led Coalition, Unknown

Sources (13) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]

  • Local media launched an urgent call to save dozens of families who were still under the rubble of destroyed buildings in the marked areas in Old Mosul. Hundreds of lives were at risk (via Mosul Eye, Facebook)
CJTF–OIR Declassified Assessment and Press Release

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.

Declassified Assessment Press Release

US-led Coalition Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition
  • US-led Coalition position on incident
    Non credible / Unsubstantiated
    Insufficient information to assess that, more likely than not, a Coalition strike resulted in civilian casualties.
  • Reason for non-credible assessment
    Insufficient information on the time and location
  • Civilian deaths conceded
    None
  • Civilian injuries conceded
    None
  • Stated location
    Mosul, Iraq
    Nearest population center

Civilian casualty statements

US-led Coalition
  • Feb 22, 2018
  • The report contains insufficient information of the time, location and details to assess its credibility.

Original strike reports

US-led Coalition

For June 29th-30th the Coalition reported: “Near Mosul, three strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit; destroyed 14 fighting positions, four supply caches, two tunnels, and a mortar system; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.” It additionally reported that “On June 29, near Mosul, Iraq, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units, destroyed seven fighting positions and two medium machine guns, and damaged eight supply routes.”

Unknown Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Unknown
  • Unknown position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    12 – 100
  • Civilians reported injured
    24–100
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerents
    US-led Coalition, Unknown

Sources (13) [ collapse]