Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CI061

Incident date

April 20, 2015

Location

فايده, Fadhiliya, Nineveh, Iraq

Geolocation

36.5125336, 43.2689667 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Village level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

An airstrike on the village of Fadiliya near Bashiqa, north of Mosul, killed between 5 and 11 civilians according to reports.

NINA, citing a peshmerga source, said that three Daesh militants and 11 non-combatants died in a coalition strike. In contrast Arb-q cited a security source as saying that an unidentified airstrike had killed “five members of one family: the father and mother, and three children.

BasNews, making no mention of civilian casualties, said that a coalition strike had killed a local Islamic State commander known as Abu A’isha, a Syrian national, and three of his men.

A day later Islamic State reportedly destroyed six empty Christian homes in the town, in what may have been a retaliatory act.

 

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the village of Fadhiliya (فايده), Nineveh Province, Iraq, near Bashiqah town (بعشيقة‎), which is located approximately 17 km North East of Mosul. The coordinates for the midpoint of Fadhiliya (فايده) are: 36.5125336, 43.2689667. A note on alternative Arabic spellings: Kurdish: Fezîle (فەزيلە); Arabic: al-Fāḍliyat (الفاضلية), al-Fāḍliyah (الفاضليه) or Faṣīliyat (فصيلية)  

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    5 – 11
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition

Sources (4) [ collapse]

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
    No Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographical area
  • Civilian deaths conceded
    None
  • Civilian injuries conceded
    None
  • Stated location
    near Ba’shiqa, Mosul, Iraq
    Nearest population center

Civilian casualty statements

US-led Coalition
  • Jul 26, 2018
  • fter 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

US-led Coalition

On April 19th-20th the coalition reported four strikes in the vicinity: “Near Mosul, four airstrikes struck an ISIL staging area, destroying four ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL armored vehicle and an ISIL excavator.“

Summary

  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    5 – 11
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition

Sources (4) [ collapse]