(Previous Incident Code: S260)

As the battle for Manbij reached its final stages, so-called Islamic State claimed that Coalition aircraft had committed a ‘massacre’ of civilians in the town. However, most sources reported that ISIL was forcibly trapping civilians in the town, and using them as human shields.

In their May 2020 civilian casualty report, the US-led Coalition assessed reports that they were responsible for civilian harm in this strike as “non-credible”, stating that the allegation provided insufficient information on the timing and location of the strike to make a determination.