(Previous Incident Code: S1261a)

Ten civilians were reported killed in an alleged Coalition airstrike in the Nahdah neighbourhood of Raqqa. Initially only reported on by one source, 3 of the victims were identified: Ahmad Al Tufi, also known as Lattoufi Lattoufi (adult, male), his wife and Layal Ramzi Ahmed Al Tufi (adult, female).

During investigations of this event for the April 2019 joint Airwars and Amnesty report War in Raqqa: Rethoric versus Reality (www.raqqa.amnesty.org), Amnesty field researchers named the other victims as well and could identify the location of the strike. The report notes: “An entire family of 10 – Six children aged between 13 years and 15 months, their parents, their bed-ridden grandmother and their 14-year-old cousin – were killed when their home was destroyed by a Coalition air strike at midday on 5 September 2017.”

Based on an interview with relative Mohammad Ahmad Al Tadfi, Amnesty’s field notes report: “The family was hiding in a six-storey building (5 floors and an attic) near the Imam Nawawi mosque and the Ibn Khaldoun school, opposite the villa of Dr. Ahmad Obeid. Mohammad’s [the interviewee] brother had a flat in the semi-basement where they died. The family had been unable to leave because Mohammad’s mother was a diabetic who could not be moved easily. However, the SDF forces were very close so Mohammad went out to try to find a way to them. He left the house at around 10am on the day in question. The strike occurred at around midday.

Mohammad added: “I visited my brother barely two hours before the tragedy. I had managed to find some insulin for my mother and I rushed over to bring it to her. I was planning to return later with my wife and children.”