Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Military aircraft – which some sources described as the Coalition’s – reportedly killed five civilians in a Christmas Day strike.
According to Al Rafidain the attack could have been the work either of the Iraq Army or the Coalition, noting that “army aviation commander Hamid al-Maliki also confirmed that army helicopters carried out a raid on 50 locations within the city of Ramadi on the day.”
In its July 2017 report the Coalition said it had classed the event as non credible on grounds of limited information: “Dec. 25, 2015, near Ramadi, Iraq, via Airwars report: The report contained insufficient information of the time, location and details to assess its credibility.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (5) [ 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 of the time, location and details to assess its credibility.
Original strike reports
The Coalition reports heavy strikes on the city for December 25th-26th 2015: “Near Ramadi, three strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL tactical vehicles, six ISIL fighting positions, four ISIL vehicles, two ISIL vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) factories, two ISIL heavy machine gun positions, an ISIL sniper position, two ISIL house borne improvised explosive devices (HBIED), and wounded two ISIL fighters.”