Airwars assessment
Local sources reported that nineteen civilians died when international Coalition or Iraqi aircraft hit Islah Al Zerae neighbourhood in West Mosul. Yaqein also noted that two houses were fully destroyed.
Several other sources reported that in total on that Friday, up to 36 civilians were injured or killed as a result of airstrikes on West Mosul neighbourhoods.
Both Iraqi forces and the Coalition were mentioned as responsible for the various raids. Sonawa indicated that ISIL may have been a source for some of the casualty claims.
In a field report which may relate to this or another event, Amnesty International noted the following – citing a local witness: “The fourth airstrike was two weeks after the first (around the end of April). An entire family was killed when an airplane (presumed) hit a house near Mahmoud water-well. This time it was 150 metres from the house where I was staying. They killed another entire family in this house. I don’t know what the target was as this time I was unable to get to the scene. By now they had destroyed the roads and all the intersection with airstrikes so the streets were impassable.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Sources (4) [ collapse]
Attached to this civilian harm incident is the Pentagon's declassified assessment of this civilian harm allegation, obtained by Azmat Khan and the New York Times through Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits filed since March 2017, 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
-
After a review of available information and strike video it was assessed that there is insufficient evidence to find civilians were harmed in this strike.
Original strike reports
For April 26th-27th, the Coalition reported: “Near Mosul, seven strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units; destroyed 19 vehicles, eight front-end loaders, two ISIS fortifications, a command and control node, a mortar system, and an ISIS staging area; damaged seven ISIS supply routes and suppressed two mortar teams.“