Geolocation
Airwars assessment
At least four civilians died in a Coalition airstrike on the Bareed quarter of Mosul. A home was completely destroyed in the event, killing four members of one family.
One report also named a fifth family member, a young disabled girl named Sadra (cousin to Abdullah) as being killed. However as the Fiscal Times noted, Sidra had actually died in February after a battle with cancer.
The event was finally confirmed by the Coalition some 29 months later.
According to a local news site, Islamic State had been using abandoned Christian properties in the al-Zahrawi neighbourhood to store ammunition when one was targeted: “Unfortunately, the missiles that targeted the home led to the explosion of ammunition which collapsed the house next door, home to innocent civilians.”
An investigation by the Fiscal Times later reported: “At 10 pm, the Hadid family members were busy in their normal daily business. The Hadid’s house was relatively large. Gassan was in the garden. His wife was in the kitchen. Mohammed was off to fill his car’s tank. Maan was by the house’s front gate. Fadhila was in her room playing with her son Abdullah. Muthanna was home to watch a soccer match.”
This air raid – and others on the city which also killed civilians – led to the Governor of Nineveh province, Atheel Al Nujaifi, calling on the coalition to exercise more caution when bombing towns and cities: “While we support the international air alliance in its targeting of Daesh, and its camps and gatherings, we call upon the coalition always to exhibit prudence, and to be cautious of striking civilian targets.”
Although al Nujaifi noted that “unfortunately such errors do sometimes occur” he pointed out that lawyers were supposed to be advising coalition operations so that pilots could “distinguish between civilian objects and military objectives, which could be targeted… We stress that we always seek to spare the citizens and the civilian damage and reassure the people of Nineveh province and the city of Mosul that the targeting used in the battle to liberate Mosul follows international criteria. No revenge or settling of accounts will be permitted in the context of military action.“
American journalist Mike Roggio visited the site in summer 2017 (36°23’09.5″N, 43°10’26.8″E) and interviewed eyewitnesses, who said that “The mother, father, pregnant wife and five-year-old son of Mohamed Ghassan Salem, 33, who runs or ran an electronics store, died…. Three witnesses tell the same story. There was a home used by ISIS militants adjacent adjacent the family home. The first missile or missiles hit the Salem home, and the ISIS home was hit right after. Both were destroyed. Salem was at work nearby and ran home when he heard the explosion to find his family dead.“
In its September 2017 civilian casualty report, the Coalition accepted responsibility for this event noting: “This previously closed allegation was re-opened after the family provided additional information to the Coalition. During a strike on a former residential use building that was being used by ISIS as an explosives storage facility, it was assessed that four civilians were unintentionally killed.”
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (4)
Summary
Sources (12) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (6) [ collapse]
-
.....
Geolocation notes
Prior to the Coalition releasing the MGRS for this incident, Airwars had geolocated it to the nearest city at 36.34585235, 43.09857692
US-led Coalition Assessment:
Civilian casualty statements
-
April 22, 2015, near Mosul, Iraq, via media report: This previously closed allegation was re-opened after the family provided additional information to the Coalition. During a strike on a former residential use building that was being used by ISIS as an explosives storage facility, it was assessed that four civilians were unintentionally killed.
Original strike reports
No strikes were publicly reported on Mosul for April 21st-22nd.