(Previous Incident Code: I028a)

According to Reuters, a coalition airstrike which killed 17 Islamic State militants also caused the deaths of 9 non-combatants: “The hospital source in al-Qaim, a town on the Euphrates River, said nine civilians were killed and 29 militants were wounded in the strike by the U.S.-led coalition which is bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria. Some of the wounded were taken across the border to Syria for treatment.”

In what may be the same or a separate incident, Reuters also reported that Islamic State radio had claimed that three people were killed and women and children were injured, in a strike near al-Qaim.

Al Arabiya confirmed a heavy airstrike on al Qaim, though made no mention of civilian casualties: “The raids, which were carried out following detailed intelligence, targeted five locations for Daesh, and the extremists fired extensively their anti aircraft weapons. The raids resulted in the deaths of dozens of members and leaders of the organization, including senior leaders, namely: Abu Muslim al-Turkmeni, Abu Muslim Al Shishani (Chechen), and Abu Ubaidah al-Azzawi and Thamer Mohammed.”

Internally CENTCOM dismissed the claims of civilian deaths, noting that “reflections were that a major ISIL leader was killed in the strike.”

However military intelligence sources also appeared to have confused the source of civilian casualty allegations (hospital personnel) with the location of the strike itself: “The target was clearly identified as an insurgent meeting house/ staging house, and was not a hospital,” J2 personnel insisted.