Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Local and press sources claimed that nine civilians were killed and more than twenty wounded in an airstrike conducted by planes of the US-led Coalition on Al Qa’im City.
According to Yaqein “a news source said that Coalition forces launched intensive raids on the city of Qaim, western Anbar province, killing nine civilians. The source added that the raids resulted in the injury of more than 22 civilians were injured.”
However in its April assessment the Coalition denied involvement: “Feb. 24, 2017, near Al-Qa’im, Iraq, via self-report: After a review of available information and strike video it was assessed that no civilians were harmed in this strike.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Al Qa’im (القائم), for which the generic coordinates are: 34.3957715, 40.9943684. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (6) [ 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 and strike video it was assessed that no civilians were harmed in this strike.
Original strike reports
For February 23rd-24th the Coalition did not publicly report strikes near Al Qa’im.