Geolocation
Airwars assessment
The Mayor of Rutba city, Imad al-Dulaimi, told local media that eight people, including four children from the same family, were killed in airstrikes on the Seven Km neighbourhood in the western part of Rutba city in Anbar province.
According to Yaqein “Dulaimi said in a press statement that ‘a military aircraft bombed civilian houses west of the city of Rutba, 310 kilometers west of the city of Ramadi,’ adding that the bombing killed eight people, including four children.” He gave no further details of the ‘military aircraft’.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Ar Rutbah (الرطبة), for which the generic coordinates are: 33.036997, 40.285862. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (3) [ 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. (1286)
Original strike reports
For April 4th-5th the Coalition publicly reported: “Near Al Qaim, one strike destroyed an ISIS media facility.”