Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Many local sources claimed that Coalition aircraft struck civilian homes in a nighttime attack on Tal Afar city west of Mosul, resulting in 17 deaths including 12 children and 3 women.
The Coalition has confirmed airstrikes in the city.
Later local source named one of the child victims.
In the first of their March 2020 civilian casualty reports, 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:
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Tall Afar (تل عفر), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.375659, 42.451536. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (8) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (7) [ collapse]
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Rescuers search for survivors of a lethal alleged Coalition strike at Tal Afar, May 5th 2016 (via NRN News)
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This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
An image shows the children bodies on the floor that killed in an alleged coalition strike at Tal Afar, May 5th 2016 (via NRN) -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
An image shows a little boy who was killed by an alleged coalition strike at Tal Afar, May 5th 2016 (via NRN) -
An image shows an injured little girl who survived from an alleged coalition strike at Tal Afar, May 5th 2016 (via NRN)
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An image shows an injured child who survived from an alleged coalition strike at Tal Afar, May 5th 2016 (via NRN)
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This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
An image shows the children bodies on the floor that killed in an alleged coalition strike at Tal Afar, May 5th 2016 (via NRN) -
A picture of the victim named (Mohand) who killed in an alleged coalition strike at Tal Afar, May 5th 2016 (via @Afar.tribes.Champions)
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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May 5, 2016 in Tall Afar, 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. 2948/CI236 38SKF713286
Original strike reports
The Coalition reports for May 4th-5th 2016 that “Near Tal Afar, one strike struck an ISIL weapons facility.“