Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Local sources claimed that families of ISIS members and other civilians were killed or wounded after Iraqi government and Coalition aircraft targeted Daesh convoys fleeing Fallujah to Ramadi Island.
According to the US military blog War Is Boring, Between 9:00 and 10:00 at night on June 28, Iraqi military intelligence detected the movement of numerous vehicles from Fallujah in a southwesterly direction along the road to Amiriyat Fallujah. Iraqi army helicopters took over the job of tracking the movement. Around 10:00 that night, intelligence reports indicated Islamic State militants were fleeing Fallujah — seemingly explaining the huge convoy. Baghdad informed the Americans, but CJTF-OIR denied permission for its warplanes to attack the area in question, as the vehicles in question could be carrying civilians.
The Washington Post also cited US officials as saying they could not immediately determine whether there were civilian casualties.
Based on interviews with Iraqi pilots, War Is Boring continued: The ISIS convoy included more than 400 vehicles, most of which were civilian. Iraqis are convinced that majority of their occupants were militants. So Iraqi pilots took the initiative. They called their political leaders in Najaf and, four hours later, attack orders came down. The first two helicopters took off at 1:30 in the morning on June 29. As they approached the area, they encountered heavy automatic gunfire from the ground. The shooting confirmed to the pilots — this was an Islamic State convoy. The pilots counted more than 400 vehicles. They’d never seen such a huge column before.
Approximately half of the vehicles were destroyed. Coalition aircraft then also joined in the attack: It’s possible that some of the vehicles carried militants’ families — which is apparently why the United States initially refused to take part in the operation. According to CJTF-OIR spokesman Col. Chris Garver, U.S. aircraft eventually did participate in an attack on the convoy, although they specifically avoided the part of the column the coalition suspected of carrying civilians.
The Coalition later reported it had destroyed up to 55 vehicles in its attacks. The Washington Post quoted Coalition spokesman Colonel Garver as saying that ‘for the bombing of the Fallujah convoy, the U.S. Air Force put everything up in the air, including B-52 bombers and AC-130 Spectre gunships.
In their monthly civilian casualty reports, the US-led Coalition has indicated that the credibility of this civilian harm allegation is in the process of being assessed.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Fallujah (الفلوجة), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.3532137, 43.7875674. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (18) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (6) [ collapse]
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An image shows the targeted vehicle following an Iraqi & coalition strike (Via war is boring)
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An image shows a child treating in an ambulance following a strike on the convoy (Via war is boring)
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Original strike reports
For June 29th-30th 2016, the Coalition reported that “Near Fallujah, two strikes [2 British] struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed 42 ISIL vehicles and denied ISIL access to terrain.”