Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Multiple sources said that dozens of civilians were killed or injured when a Coalition airstrike hit a health center, a power station and a market in Zab town, southwest of Kirkuk.
Raedlay posted a video showing the aftermath of the strikes and the destruction of the health center. Correspondences Team said that four strikes had been carried out, blaming the Coalition.
Journalists had told Iraqyoon that the raids had killed and wounded dozens of civilian doctors, and had “destroyed the headquarters of the old ID office and medical clinic”.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Al Zab (الزاب), for which the generic coordinates are: 35.2697714, 43.458867. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (7) [ 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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After a review of available information it was assessed that no Coalition strikes were conducted in the geographical area that correspond to the report of civilian casualties.
Original strike reports
For January 17th-18th the Coalition did not report any strikes in Al Zab. However it said: “Near Huwayjah, one strike destroyed a weapons cache.”