Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Twelve civilians reportedly died when their homes were struck in alleged Coalition airstrikes at Hit – although no strikes were publicly declared in the near vicinity.
According to local media, among those killed ‘in Coalition strikes’ were Hadi Hassan Jihad, Bashar Hadi Jihad and five other family members with several more wounded, near the secondary school for girls in Jamyiah neighbourhood; and Fadel Awad Alasaffi and his wife, who died when the nearby Meteorological Department was bombed.
Responding to a request for clarification about possible involvement given declared UK strikes in western Iraq that day, the MoD told Airwars that “after extensive research, we can confirm that there was no UK involvement” in the alleged event at Hit.
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 no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area at that time.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (2)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Hit (يت), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.642631, 42.8278537. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (3) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
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An image of the victim (Bashar Hadi Jihad) who was killed in an alleged Coalition strike at Hit March 7th 2016 (via News From Hit)
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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March 7, 2016, in Hit, Iraq, via Airwars report. After a review of all available records it was assessed that no Coalition actions were conducted in the geographical area that corresponds to the report of civilian casualties. 2912/CI199 38SKC985246
Original strike reports
For March 6th-7th 2016, the Coalition reported strikes in both Fallujah and Ramadi.