Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Local press sources and an Iraqi activist said that fifteen civilians died and five were injured after airstrikes hit a house in Saha (Health) neighborhood in West Mosul.
Mohammed Fadel al-Hayali, a civilian activist, told TRT Arabic TV: “An airstrike targeted a house in Saha neighbourhood at the western district of Mosul yesterday evening, killing 15 people and wounding five.” He furthermore reported: “All the victims are relatives and come from three families, who were hiding in this fatal house.”
Al-Hayali could not say whether the Iraqi airforce of Coalition aircraft carried out the raid. “It is difficult to determine who bombed, especially because the roar of aircraft engines above the city is barely ever ceasing,” he said.
Hassan Ehsan Al Sabaha reported on Facebook that his cousin Ali Bilal al-Sabha al-Sharifi died in front of his house after airstrikes on the neighbourhood (see photo below). This was also reported by Ehab Alshuraife, who said that Ali Bilal was his only uncle.
A UN report on the protection of civilians in context of Nineveh operations and the retaking of Mosul stated: “In the evening of 27 April, an airstrike apparently targeting an ISIL vehicle hit three civilian houses in the ISIL-controlled al-Siha neighbourhood, western Mosul, killing 17 civilians, including six women and two children, and wounding four others, including a woman.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (6) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
-
Relatives reported that Ali Bilal al-Sabha al-Sharifi died in an airstrike on Saha neighbourhood in West Mosul (via Hassan Ehsan Al Sabaha, Facebook)
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
-
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 27th-28th the Coalition publicly stated: “Near Mosul, six strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed eight front-end loaders, two recoilless rifles, a vehicle, a mortar system, an excavator, and an anti-air artillery system; damaged a VBIED facility and suppressed two mortar teams.”