Local sources said that up to 130 civilians were killed and 78 injured after Coalition airstrikes and/ or Iraqi artillery had struck many residential buildings in Al-Shafaa (Shifa) in West Mosul. The Coalition has confirmed causing 10 deaths.
Press sources had told Yaqein that “the retaliatory shelling by aircraft and artillery by government forces had, from dawn on Sunday, targeted residential neighborhoods at the right side of Mosul, killing 30 civilians, including seven children.”
Iraqi Spring Media Center initially also reported 30 dead, including seven children. It said that Iraqi government forces were responsible for the shelling “with artillery and planes.” In a later post, it put the death toll even higher, at 49, and spoke of 78 wounded, mostly women and children. However, it reported “massive bombing by the Coalition”. Al Jazeera also blamed the Coalition for dozens of civilian deaths, and suggested that the 49 dead and 78 wounded were numbers reported by the ISIL press agency.
Raedlay and Correspondences team reported the same numbers and said these were the result of US strikes on residential buildings and shops in the neighborhood of Shifa.
Correspondences Team later also reported raids near Qasim Al-Khayat (street in Shifa neighbourhood) on a building used by displaced families. It said dozens were killed or wounded.
According to the New York Times, “this strike targeted an apartment complex near the Tahir building in Mosul, where both ISIS members and civilians lived. Down the street was another residential complex where ISIS members’ families lived. The attack on the first complex triggered the explosion of a fuel truck near the second, resulting in fire that destroyed the second complex. The strike was authorized despite numerous “collateral concerns” noted in the report: that there was a regular pedestrian and vehicle presence around the target, at a “moderate to high transient traffic,” and that residences and apartments were near the target. The report concluded that 10 civilians were killed. On the ground, the death toll was much higher. I documented the deaths of 20 civilians in and around the first building, including six members of the family of Yousef Hashim Ali. Dozens of others in the second building burned to death or were severely injured.”
Al Rafidain channel posted a video on Twitter showing the aftermath of the raids on Shifa neighbourhood, including several wounded and dead bodies pulled from the rubble. It said the Coalition was responsible, and equally reported 49 killed and 78 wounded, mostly women and children. The same video was shared by Iraqyoon.
In a report of February 21st, Yaqein suggested the death toll had risen dramatically: “It is noteworthy that about 130 civilians, were killed earlier, on Monday, in the massacre committed by the Coalition forces across the bombed Shifa neighborhood in the west side of the city of Mosul, Nineveh province.”
Mosul Ateka (Facebook) reported that Ammar Abd was killed in the raids: “Martyr (Ammar Abd) will also join the caravan of martyrs in the wake of the bombing that took place yesterday on healing [Shifa] district in the right side of # Mosul, [he] leaves behind three children (..)”.
In another post, Mosul Ateka reported the death of “Engineer Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim after raids on Qasim Al-Khayat (streets in Shifa neighbourhood). Mohammed Hussein Sawas at Shifa has also been named as a victim.
In July 2017 the Coalition confirmed an event at al Shifa as credible: “Feb. 19, 2017, near Mosul, Iraq, via self-report: During a strike on an ISIS headquarters building, it was assessed that 10 civilians were unintentionally killed.”
The Coalition provided Airwars with the location of this incident, accurate to within a one metre box.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
