(Previous Incident Code: S880)

A total of 25 civilians including one woman and 10 children died in SDF/Coalition shelling near the Al Mansouri mosque in Raqqa, according to local media. The US-led Coalition later conceded the event following an Amnesty field investigation.

Multiple reports said that a home near the mosque was hit with artillery or mortar shells or rocket attacks.

According to @24Raqqa “more than 10 mortar shells fell on the perimeter of Al-Mansouri Mosque and the old mosque in the center of the city of Al-Raqqa”.

Meanwhile, @raqqa_r_w_b reported that Dalal Ahmad Hussein al-Nayef died when a home next to the mosque was struck and Al Ragga Truth reported: “The martyrdom of Ahmed Al-Hussein Al-Nayef from injuries sustained several days ago by the bombardment in the vicinity of Al-Mansouri Mosque.”

In February 2019, the Coalition assessed this event to be non-credible. Their report noted: “After review of all available strike records it was determined that more likely than not civilian casualties did not occur as a result of a Coalition strike.”

Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently published graphic images showing casualties and destruction of Raqqa on June 16th, though the pictures were not necessarily specific to this incident.

According to a local source interviewed by Amnesty International’s field researchers, the first strike came at around 7.30pm near the Old Mosque on Sharia Jama al Qadeemeh.

In a later Amnesty/Airwars study of the incident, it was reported in the Amnesty and Airwars’s joint April 2019 report “War in Raqqa: Rhetoric versus Reality” report that, Ahmed, who lived in the centre of Raqqa, near the Old Mosque, told Amnesty International that on 15 June a public gathering of IS members prompted shelling which killed 25 civilians.

“There had been a problem between IS and local civilians. I was in the area buying fruit juices for Iftar. It was around 7.15 in the evening. I saw a heated situation develop and I stopped on the corner to see what was going on. People were gathered outside the Old Mosque where IS used to exchange money for Durham Da’ashi [IS currency]. Some people got into an argument with an IS guy about the exchange rate. The IS guy took out his pistol and hit a man on the head with it. A fight broke out and around 20 local civilians beat two IS guys to death.

Soon afterwards six or seven IS cars arrived on the scene full of armed IS guys. They ordered everyone to return home immediately. They closed down all the shops and blocked off the streets. I went home, just down Sharia Jama al Qademeeh.

The first strike came at around 7.30pm. When I heard the explosion I ran from my home with my wife and three children, one of whom is disabled. We ran to a neighbour’s house and hid in the cellar. There were 20 people from the neighbourhood in the cellar. He had prepared everything so there was food and water. We didn’t come out for two days.

All night they shelled, every 15 minutes, with mortars and artillery. You could tell from the sound. The street is 2km long. There were around 100 IS in the area and around 2,000 civilians. When the shelling began the IS got in their cars and escaped. They [the SDF/coalition] killed 25 people on Sharia Jama al Qadeemeh, including 10 children. I know because I met up with my neighbours and other people from the area at “aind al Democrati” [the SDF collection point for civilians beyond the frontline]. We all talked and everyone knew someone who had been killed that night.

One of the strikes hit my house and destroyed it. It was an Arab house of three storeys in Jama al Qadeemeh. It also destroyed the adjoining house. The family living there was killed. Three brothers, Jihad aged 20-23, Ahmed aged 18 and Mahmoud, aged 15 or 16. Jihad’s wife Beytool was also killed. She was 19 or 20 and had been 2 months pregnant. Another person killed was Abu Maher, a local motorcycle mechanic.

When we came out of the cellar we arranged to leave the area. I paid the smugglers 400USD to get me and my family out of Raqqa. We crossed the river and then crossed back again at Sahel where the SDF was positioned”.