Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Local sources said that at least 21 civilians were killed and 17 were injured, including women and children, because of airstrikes and artillery shelling in neighbourhoods of West Mosul.
Iraq News Center placed the death toll even higher: “Many surviving civilians [and] witnesses from the right side [of Mosul] confirmed that Coalition airstrikes targeted civilian houses and there were 20 civilians killed in one house and 11 in another and 3 in a fourth house. Large numbers of innocent civilians are the direct victims of Coalition airstrikes and mortar and artillery shelling by Iraqi forces ”
Al Jazeera – citing Islamic State – said 21 people had reportedly died: “For its part, Daesh said that 21 civilians – mostly children and women – were killed in when bombing targeted the western neighborhoods of Mosul.“
The incident occured between 12:00 am and 8:00 am local time.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident only refer to “West Mosul”. The generic coordinate for West Mosul are: 36.336843, 43.117979
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 there is insufficient evidence to find that civilians were harmed in this strike.
Original strike reports
For March 15th – 16th: “Near Mosul, five strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units; destroyed 11 fighting positions, four mortar systems, two ISIS-held buildings, two vehicles, a medium machine gun, an artillery system, and a rocket-propelled grenade system; damaged 17 supply routes and three ISIS-held buildings; and suppressed six ISIS mortar teams and three ISIS tactical units.”