Geolocation
Airwars assessment
In a major mass casualty incident, 69 civilians were reported killed and 100 injured after alleged Coalition or possibly Iraq government aircraft allegedly struck the village of Asriyah. All of the victims were said to be from the Al Bojaber tribe.
According to al Rafidain and other sources, fifteen of those killed were said to be from the Al Jabri family, including the head of the household Matar Dayih Kattah Al Jabri. Only one member of the family reportedly survived, a baby named as Malak Juma Al Jabri.
Sheikh Zeidan Al Jabri, the chief sheikh of the Al Bijaber tribe, told Al Jazeera that his tribe members had stayed at their homes in Asriyah village during a nearby government offensive against Daesh. He claimed international Coalition and Iraqi forces had targeted them with airstrikes and killed dozens, mostly children and women.
There were claims that the Iraq Army initially prevented medical personnel from entering the town because it had been classed as a military operations area.
News of Iraq said the attack was the work of both the Coalition and the Iraq military.
The event inflamed local opinion, including the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq which blamed the US-led Coalition: “The United States is responsible for everything that happens in Iraq for crimes against humanity and violations of terrible human rights, which was and still is responsible for every drop of blood being shed on the land of Iraq.”
And local Sunni political leader Mahmoud al Daham called for legal action against the Coalition: “I ask for the formation of a team of volunteer lawyers to work in international courts to condemn this action, and to hold those responsible negligent according to international law and to demand compensation for the victims and the injured in this heinous crime.“
Responding to a request for clarification about possible involvement given declared UK strikes in the Euphrates Valley that day, the MoD told Airwars that “after extensive research, we can confirm that there was no UK involvement” in the alleged event at Asiriya.
In their June 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)
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Asriya (العصرية), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.46345, 43.07301. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (15) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]
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This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
An image shows the child (Malak Juma Al Jabri) who survived after an alleged airstrike by coalition/Iraq government aircraft in the village of Asriyah (via Fallujah Modal facebook account) -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
An image shows dead bodies on the floor after the alleged airstrike by coalition/Iraqi government.
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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March 9, 2016, in Asriya, 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. 2913/CI200 38SLC209043
Original strike reports
For March 9th-10th 2016 the Coalition reported that “Near Ramadi, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed four ISIL heavy machine guns, two ISIL supply caches, 11 ISIL improvised explosive devices (IED), three ISIL vehicles, an ISIL VBIED, and denied ISIL access to terrain.”