Geolocation
Airwars assessment
An unspecified number of civilian casualties may have occurred near Haditha Dam following a reported strike on an imminent ISIL assault.
According to El Nel News, Coalition aircraft bombed a gathering of Daesh militants, killing dozens of terrorists and foiling an attack on the perimeter of Haditha Dam in Anbar province in western Iraq.
Yaqein said civilians died in a Coalition strike in the Hawiyah are near Haditha, which may be the same incident. The Iraqi Spring Media Centre also referenced a Coalition strike, which it said resulted in an unspecified number of deaths and injuries.
Given reported British actions in the near region that day, Airwars flagged the incident to the UK’s MoD which said ” we can confirm that there was no UK involvement in the event.
In their May 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.
Summary
Sources (3) [ collapse]
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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Sept. 16, 2016, in Zawiyah, 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. 3039/CI286 38SKC424943
Original strike reports
For September 16th-17th 2016, the Coalition publicly reported no actions near Haditha, though did declare strikes in Anbar at Ramadi and Hit: ” “Near Hit, one strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a building… Near Ramadi, one strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and a staging area and destroyed a fighting position and a building.“