Geolocation
Airwars assessment
There were effectively single-source claims that an alleged Coalition strike on a Mosul court killed 33 civilians who had been detained on petty charges by so-called Islamic State. Three judges also reportedly died.
According to Al Mustaqbal, the Coalition targeted “a former Social Welfare Department building” which now functions as a court. The three ISIL judges were reportedly killed, named as Mohsen Allawi Afri, Walid Rashid and Ghaith Saher Rashidi.
The site also said the attack had killed “33 civilian detainees, mostly young people from Mosul who were under investigation by the court.”
Responding to a request for clarification about possible involvement given declared UK strikes near Mosul that day, the MoD told Airwars that “after extensive research, we can confirm that there was no UK involvement” in the alleged event.
In its July 2017 civilian casualty report, the Coalition denied responsibility for the event on grounds of having conducted no strikes in the near vicinity: “Jan. 14, 2016, near Mosul, Iraq, via Airwars report: After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographic area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties.”
Given the specific details associated with this event, Airwars has requested additional clarification from the Coalition.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (3) [ collapse]
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
According to the Coalition, for January 14th 2016 “Near Mosul, seven strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units, an ISIL headquarters, and an ISIL improvised explosive device (IED) factory and destroyed eight ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL heavy machine guns, two ISIL vehicles, nine ISIL assembly areas, two weapons caches, an ISIL bunker, an ISIL command and control node, and suppressed an ISIL rocket position.“