(Previous Incident Code: I059)

An alleged strike by Coalition aircraft reportedly killed 18 civilians and injured a further 10, according to a single source.

Al Gharbiya claimed that a number of villages south west of Hawija were hit. “About 30 civilians were killed and wounded on Wednesday in a bombardment by an international warplane in several areas of the Hawija district, southwest of Kirkuk. A source familiar with the case, quoting eyewitnesses, said that “the aircraft of the International Coalition bombed today, areas in the villages of Kbeiba and Safra and Al-Rashad district of the province of Hawija south-west of Kirkuk.” The source added that “the retaliatory bombardment killed some 18 citizens and wounded ten others, some of them badly.”

In its monthly civilian casualty report for October 2019 – published on December 5th of that year – the Coalition assessed the event as ‘non credible’, noting that “July 1, 2015, in Safra, Iraq, via Airwars report. After a review of all available records it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties. 2783/CI081 38SLD902956”.

Coalition officials also provided Airwars with a geolocation to within 100 metres of the area reviewed.