(Previous Incident Code: I082)

A reported evening airstrike by a drone or other Coalition aircraft at Hawijah was said to have killed five civilians and injured a further seven or more people.

Al Amaaq, the media wing of ISIS, reported the “Killing [of] five civilians and wounding of seven others in the bombing by a US aircraft in the evening at Hawija southwest of Kirkuk.”

A video at the time – since deleted by YouTube – showed destruction in the town.

Iraqi Revolution accused the Coalition of “targeting innocent people in southern Kirkuk, Hawija and the martyrdom and wounding dozens of civilians.”

The Coalition itself confirmed a strike in the immediate vicinity for September 17th-18th 2015, noting: “Near Al Huwayjah, one airstrike with inconclusive results.”

However, in its monthly civilian casualty report for October 2019 – published on December 5th of the same year – the US-led Coalition assessed this event as ‘non credible’, noting: “September 17, 2015, in Hawijah, 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. 2820/CI105 38SLE885097”.

The Coalition published a location for the assessment identifying to within 100 metres the area where it had focused its review.