Airwars assessment
Four civilians were reported killed and 17 injured in an alleged Coalition or Iraqi strike on the centre of Ramadi.
According to FaceIraq, the source of the claim appeared to be Sputnik News, which itself reproted that “According to Iraqi security sources, who asked not to be named, a Coalition strike on the ‘Company’ area of central Ramadi, under the control of Daesh, killed four civilians and wounded 17 others.”
The Iraqi Revolution site – which posted footage of casualties of the incident – blamed the attack on “the army of the brutal enemy” – though it was not clear whether this implied the US-led Coalition or the Iraq Army.
In its July 2017 casualty report, the Coalition said it had classed the event as non credible on grounds of available evidence: “Dec. 9, 2015, near Ramadi, Iraq, via Airwars report: The report contained insufficient information of the time, location and details to assess its credibility.”
Airwars is seeking additional information from the Coalition.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (4) [ collapse]
Attached to this civilian harm incident is the Pentagon's declassified assessment of this civilian harm allegation, obtained by Azmat Khan and the New York Times through Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits filed since March 2017, 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.
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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The report contained insufficient information on the time, location and details to assess its credibility.
Original strike reports
For December 8th-9th 2015, the Coalition reported that “Near Ramadi, four strikes struck three separate large ISIL tactical units and destroyed three ISIL bed down locations, two ISIL light machine guns, two ISIL heavy machine guns, an ISIL recoilless rifle, four ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL tactical vehicle, three ISIL buildings, four ISIL vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED), an ISIL VBIED factory, an ISIL staging area, an ISIL compound, an ISIL resupply location, two ISIL command and control nodes, and denied ISIL access to terrain.”