Geolocation
Airwars assessment
The Coalition announced it was conducting an assessment of a possible civilian casualty event: Currently, three reports received in October are still being assessed… 3. Oct. 23, 2016, near Qaraqosh and Hasana, Iraq.
A Coalition report issued the following month noted: Oct. 23, 2016, near Qaraqosh and Hasana, Iraq: Insufficient information provided or available to assess the credibility of the reported civilian casualties.
A senior Coalition official later told Airwars that the allegation had been “Based on Russian social media and Russian MinDef accusations.”
However local reporting at the time said that Coalition airstrikes were conducted at Qaraqosh in support of ISF ground operations.
Given reported British actions in the area 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. However given that RAF strikes were reported in Qaraqosh the previous day [see above], Airwars has requested further clarification.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Qaraqosh (بخديدا (Bakhdida)), for which the generic coordinates are: 36.27093, 43.37758. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (5) [ collapse]
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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Insufficient information provided or available to assess the credibility of the reported civilian casualties.
Original strike reports
For October 23rd 2016, the Coalition reported at the time that “Near Mosul, six strikes [5-6 British] engaged four ISIL tactical units, two rocket systems, two anti-aircraft artillery systems and two staging areas; destroyed 19 fighting positions, 17 vehicles, 10 heavy machine guns, nine mortar systems, eight command and control nodes, six repeater towers, and four tunnels; and damaged four fighting positions, two vehicles, a mortar system, and a tunnel.”