Multiple local sources reported the death of a female civilian after alleged US-led Coalition artillery strikes that hit the street of the family home near the Imam Al Nawawi Mosque, Raqqa City.
The woman killed has been identified as Khansaa Mohammed Qantar.
However, this victim is also named in incident CS1361, reportedly killed by artillery shelling on a different location in Raqqa, the Al Tawassoui’ya (التوسعية) neighborhood.
Since Amnesty International conducted extensive field research, it was identified by a relative “Mohammed”, that she was killed on the 12th of August.
According to the Amnesty and Airwars’ joint April 2019 report War in Raqqa: Rhetoric versus Reality, “A 40-year-old woman, Khansa’ al-Qantar, was killed in the garden of her home by shrapnel from an artillery shell which struck the street outside her house.”
A relative gave a testimonial to an on the ground Amnesty researcher. He said,”Look at the holes which the artillery shrapnel made in the metal gate. You can imagine such what shrapnel does to the human body. It kills.”
According to research Khansa was killed by artillery shrapnel while in her house. The initial Airwars geolocation was incorrect as it suggested the house was intact in the aftermath of the strike. Artillery hit the street and killed the victim while she was inside her home. The house which Airwars has geolocated is the same house where a small impact radius missile killed four men on the 27th September 2017. See incident CS1536. According to Amnesty not much damage was done to the house.
In April 2019 the Coalition announced that it had classed this allegation of civilian harm as non-credible, noting: “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.”