Airwars assessment
Two or more US targeted airstrikes aimed at killing 21-year old British cyber terrorist Junaid Hussain instead resulted in the deaths of 3 civilians and the injuring of at least 5 more, a US investigation later concluded.
“On Aug. 13, 2015, near Ar Raqqah, Syria, during strikes against Junaid Hussain, an ISIL cyber-operative, it was assessed three civilians in the vicinity of the strikes were killed and five more were injured,” a press statement noted.
A CENTCOM spokesman later told Airwars that the attack on Hussain had only “resulted in injuries to him that were not fatal.” The botched intelligence-led mission had instead led to significant civilian casualties, a fact which took more than five months to emerge.
The British terrorist actually died in an August 24th airstrike in Syria, as Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs: “The US administration has confirmed that Junaid Hussain was killed in an American airstrike on 24 August in Raqqah.”
Cameron also described Hussain as “involved in actively recruiting ISIL sympathisers and seeking to orchestrate specific and barbaric attacks against the West, including directing a number of planned terrorist attacks right here in Britain.”
No local monitors appear to have tracked any civilian casualties at the time of the August 13th strikes, suggesting the US identified casualties from post-strike surveillance.
In July 2019, the Coalition provided Airwars with the location of this incident, accurate to within a 100 metre box.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
Summary
Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]
Geolocation notes
Prior to the Coalition releasing the MGRS for this incident, Airwars had geolocated it to the nearest city at 35.9505639, 39.0094148
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
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On Aug. 13, 2015, near Ar Raqqah, Syria, during strikes against Junaid Hussain, an ISIL cyber-operative, it was assessed three civilians in the vicinity of the strikes were killed and five more were injured.
Original strike reports
Near Ar Raqqah, two airstrikes struck two ISIL tactical units.