Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Multiple local sources and eyewitnesses reported that 15 civilians were killed, including children and women, and more than 20 others were injured after airstrikes hit their homes in Farouk Street in Old Mosul. Most sources blamed the Coalition for the shelling.
Witnesses had told Al Jazeera that the civilians had died after raids hit popular areas in the Old Mosul area, in “Al-Farouk Street and the area of Al-Sadah, which lies north of the old part of Mosul”. Security sources had told the news agency that “Iraqi forces were continuing operations in the three neighborhoods north of the old city, in West Mosul, for a second day in a row to regain control of ISIL, backed by air support from Iraqi aviation and International Coalition aircraft. The sources added that the advance of troops is proceeding slowly due to the violent resistance shown by the ISIL combatants.”
Yaqein Agency and Adamyiah News said it was the work of the Coalition.
Local Facebook group Sawlf Ateka later said that a young boy called Mazen had died in West Mosul (see photo below).
A UN report on the protection of civilians in context of Nineveh operations and the retaking of Mosul stated: “On 28 May, an airstrike targeting an ISIL convoy hit a group of civilians while they were walking in al- Najafy Street in the ISIL-controlled Old Mosul city. The airstrike reportedly killed 15 civilians, including four women and two children, and wounded eight others, including a child and three women.”
The Guardian reported on several civilian casualties from the old Mosul Neighborhood. One testimony from Tareq Abid is most likely related to this event. Abid describes how his wife and two children, five-year-old Messara, and 18-month-old Mariam were killed in an offensive against Islamic State “at the end of May last year”. He had asked his brother to flee with his family so he could make sure his parents could also leave in safety. When Abid returned to his neighborhood he found his wife and one of his daughters: “My wife’s face couldn’t be identified but she was still wearing her wedding ring. There was a big hole in her back and chest. Her handbag with all her jewellery was gone. Mariam was lying dead beside her. I learnt that Isis fighters had taken my eldest daughter to hospital but she had died too. I never found her body.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (2)
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (11) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
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The young boy called Mazen, who reportedly died in West Mosul (via Sawlf Ateka)
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 May 27th-28th the Coalition publicly reported: “Near Mosul, six strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units; destroyed 17 fighting positions, six heavy machine guns, four rocket-propelled grenade systems, three mortar systems, three VBIED, a vehicle, a medium machine gun; damaged an ISIS staging area; suppressed two ISIS tactical units and two mortar teams.”