(Previous Incident Code: I396a)

In an incident not previously tracked by Airwars, the Coalition confirmed the deaths of five civilians in an event in Mosul while survivors’ accounts add that at least three others were severely injured in the airstrikes.

Their June 2017 civilian casualty report noted “During a strike on an ISIS VBIED, it was assessed that five civilians were unintentionally killed.”

An investigation by the New York Times uncovered more details that “following orders from ISIS to evacuate their West Mosul neighborhood, two brothers, Majid Mahmoud Ahmed and Firas Mahmoud Ahmed, were driving with their families in two cars across town. At the same time, coalition forces were monitoring surveillance video of the area, looking to strike what intelligence had indicated was an up-armored vehicle carrying a car bomb. An official mistakenly identified the brothers’ cars as those carrying car bombs, and the strike was authorized. “I remember there was a big explosion, and I fainted,” said Abdul Hakeem Abdullah Hamash al-Aqeedi, pictured above. The cars were passing his house when the weapon hit. He lost an eye and had a plate put into his left leg. His son, Mustafa Hakeem Abdullah, had his left leg amputated from the thigh down. His nephew, who had been a nursing-school student, lost four toes on his left foot and one on his right foot and still has shrapnel in his leg. The brothers and their family members in the cars were all killed.”

The coordinates provided to Airwars – 36.324100, 43.127258 placed this event at Wadi Hajar neighbourhood in Mosul. There were two additional claimed events in Mosul that day – including an event at nearby Rifai which killed five civilians – although based on this location being 4.6 km distant, this does appear to be a separate incident.