Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

CI728

Incident date

May 22, 2017

Location

حي النجار, Mosul, Al-Najjar, Nineveh, Iraq

Geolocation

36.3592367, 43.0998802 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Neighbourhood/area level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Sources said that an entire family was killed after airstrikes had hit their house in Najjar neighbourhood, in West Mosul.

At the time of the attack Sawlf Ateka – a local Facebook group – called for help in a post: “The bombing of the house of Fayez Nazem Mohammed Anis Shandala since yesterday in the neighborhood of Najjar. No one survived except one woman and the rest are still under the rubble. And the names of their children [are] Ahmed and Ali, and the student in the Faculty of Medicine – Ala – and their grandmother Naima Saadullah Ahmed. [The] address of the house: after going down from Mosul Hotel, the first street on the right.”

Mosul Urgent News, another local Facebook page, posted six photos from Najjar neighbourhood that pictured the destruction. It did not say who was responsible.

Two weeks after the fatal incident, the Ninawa media centre reported that some of the bodies had not been found at the house and asked for information. “The bodies of four people were not found in the house during the shelling. They were Fayez Nazem and his sons Ahmad and Ali and his daughter Alaa Faiz. Please feel free to contact us at 07513619341.” @zyaad_alsenjary equally reported on Twitter that they bodies had not been found yet. He blamed the Coalition for the strikes.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Family members (5)

Fayez Nazem Mohammed Anis Shandala
Adult male Father killed
Ahmed
Child male Son killed
Ali
Adult male Son killed
Ala
Adult female Daughter, medicine student killed
Naima Saadullah Ahmed
Adult female Grandmother killed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    5
  • (2 women)
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Confirmed
    A specific belligerent has accepted responsibility for civilian harm.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition
  • Known target
    ISIS

Sources (4) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]

  • Scenes of destruction in Mosul's Najjar neighbourhood (via Mosul Urgent news)
CJTF–OIR Declassified Assessment and Press Release

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.

Declassified Assessment Press Release

US-led Coalition Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition
  • US-led Coalition position on incident
    Non credible / Unsubstantiated
    Insufficient information to assess that, more likely than not, a Coalition strike resulted in civilian casualties.
  • Civilian deaths conceded
    None
  • Civilian injuries conceded
    None

Civilian casualty statements

US-led Coalition

Original strike reports

US-led Coalition

For May 21st-22nd, the Coalition reported: “Near Mosul, three strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and a sniper; destroyed 18 fighting positions, nine medium machine guns, six VBIEDs, four rocket systems, three rocket-propelled grenade systems, three heavy machine guns, a command and control node, a vehicle, a supply cache, a mortar system, and a tunnel; damaged 15 ISIS supply roads, a fighting position; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.”

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    5
  • (2 women)
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Confirmed
    A specific belligerent has accepted responsibility for civilian harm.
  • Suspected belligerent
    US-led Coalition
  • Known target
    ISIS

Sources (4) [ collapse]