Geolocation
Airwars assessment
The Iraqi Spring Media Centre claimed that “Coalition fighters” had struck civilians in north-west Ramadi, killing 13 civilians and injuring a further 18.
Particular news described the alleged Coalition strike as ‘retaliatory’ though gave no further details while noting that there was also significant material damage to civilian houses in the area.
Responding to a request for clarification about possible involvement given declared UK strikes near Ramadi that day, the MoD told Airwars: “We cannot make any definitive assessment of possible UK presence from the evidence you have provided, but I can confirm that there was no indication of any civilian casualties in our own detailed assessments of the impact of each of our strikes over the period concerned.”
In their February 2020 civilian casualty report, the US-led Coalition assessed reports that they were responsible for civilian harm in this strike as “non-credible”, stating that the allegation provided insufficient information on the timing and location of the strike to make a determination.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Ramadi (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 (4) [ collapse]
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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Jan. 20, 2016, in Ramadi, Iraq, via Airwars report. The allegation provided insufficient detail to identify a specific date, time, or location to search for corroborating Coalition action. 2891/CI180 38SLC407010
Original strike reports
The Coalition reported heavy strike activity in the area for January 19th-20th 2016: “Near Ramadi, six strikes [2 British] struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL mortar system, three ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL RPG system, two ISIL vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED), an ISIL building, two ISIL heavy machine guns, an ISIL tunnel entrance, two ISIL petroleum oil and lubricant trucks, an ISIL front end loader, suppressed an ISIL mortar system, and denied ISIL access to terrain.”