Geolocation
Airwars assessment
A major civilian casualty event took place in Tal Afar district, North West of Mosul, following aerial bombardment, local media reported.
Dozens were killed according to witnesses, including entire families of mostly women and children. The local media organisation Kurdistan24 said that as many as 59 families had died in an attack it blamed on the Iraqi government. Others placed the death toll at around 70.
The activists, Omar Al Habusi and Abdulaziz Afgani, made an urgent call to international human rights organisations to expose what they described as a heinous crime. Both said that the civilians killed were displaced people, and asserted that Iraqi Government Forces were responsible.
A tweet by @AEJKHaill published graphic photographs of children killed following the raid. The source blamed the US-led Coalition and the Iraqi Army, calling it the “US-backed Iraqi Army”. @AEJKHaill described the incident as “pure terrorism”.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention the Eyathia (العياضية) town and that survivors fled North East, towards Malha (المالحة) village. The coordinates for Eyathia (العياضية) are: 36.484214, 42.422214. The coordinates for Malha (المالحة) are: 36.518949, 42.354012. Airwars assessment summary uses the generic coordinates for Eyathia (العياضية), however, it is likely that the incident took place in the Northern outskirts of the town.
Summary
Sources (4) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]
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This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
A picture of the two children who were killed in Tal Afar, West Mosul province following an aerial bombardment (via @AEJKhalil) -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
A picture of a dead woman on the ground while her child is trying to wake her up. The woman was killed following an aerial bombardment on Tal Afar, West Mosul province (via @AEJKhalil) -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
A picture of a child, killed in Tal Afar, West Mosul province following an aerial bombardment (via @AEJKhalil)
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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The report contains insufficient information of the time, location and details to assess its credibility.
Original strike reports
For August 26th – 27th the Coalition reported *Near Tal Afar, three strikes destroyed three ISIS-held buildings, two vehicles and a fighting position.” It additionally stated that “On Aug. 26, near Tal Afar, Iraq, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed two medium machine guns, two VBIEDs, two command and control nodes, a weapons cache, and a fighting position.”