Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Eight civilians – including a senior veterinarian and his wife – were reported killed when three vehicles were hit in an alleged Coalition airstrike, as they travelled on the road between Ramadi and Rutba.
Dr. Ahmed Hamid Al-Jumaily (pictured) – the director of a major veterinary hospital in Anbar – was killed along with his wife, and his wife’s father. Four or five other civilians also died, named as Hazem Al Sarhan and his wife and children in what was claimed to be a Coalition attack. Ramadi had been the scene of heavy airstrikes for some weeks.
In its July 2017 casualty report, the Coalition said it had classed the event as non credible on grounds of no strikes in the near vicinity: “Dec. 10, 2015, near Ramadi, Iraq, via Airwars report: After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographic area that correspond to the report of civilian casualties.”
Given the well documented nature of this event, Airwars has requested additional information from the Coalition – and continues to assess this event as likely.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Ramadi, Road between Ramadi and Rutba (الرمادي), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.437441, 43.286666. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (7) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
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Senior vetinarian Dr. Ahmed Hamid Al-Jumaily, killed with 7 others in reported Coalition strike December 10th 2015 (via Heet News)
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.
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographic area that correspond to the report of civilian casualties.
Original strike reports
For December 9th-10th 2015 the Coalition reported that “Near Ramadi, six strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL boats, five ISIL fighting positions, three ISIL weapons caches, and four ISIL command and control nodes.”