Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Belligerent
Country
Libya
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Belligerent Assessment
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Civilian deaths alleged
Civilian deaths confirmed by belligerent

Incident Code

Lib2011-092

Incident date

May 13, 2011

Location

مرسى البريقة, Brega, Al Wahat, Libya

Geolocation

30.411123, 19.570076 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Between 11 and 16 civilians were reported killed in a NATO airstrike on Brega.

Both the BBC and the Washington Post said that eleven clerics were killed in the attack, while Reuters noted that “Nine imams were among 11 people killed in a strike on a guest house in the eastern city of Brega on Friday, the government said. The other two were buried elsewhere.”

Libyan State TV was reported to have declared that 16 civilians were killed in the attack. And the Express Tribune added that 50 people were allegedly wounded.

Al Jazeera wrote: “On Friday, a Libyan military source said that 16 people were killed and 30 wounded in the NATO raid on a guesthouse in Buraiqa, when at the time of the raid dozens of clerics came to attend a celebration. On Friday, Libyan state television showed scenes of nine bodies with several injuries.”

Reuters and The Express Tribune additionally quoted NATO officials commenting on the allegation: “Command and control bunker was struck in Brega early this (Friday) morning, as the structure was being used by the Qaddafi regime to coordinate strikes against the Libyan civilian population.

We are aware of allegations of civilian casualties in connection to this strike and although we cannot independently confirm the validity of the claim we regret any loss of life by innocent civilians when they occur.”

The Eg-11 Blog posted the following: “A spokesman for the Libyan revolutionaries, Ahmed Bani, denied, on Friday, that any civilian had been killed due to the bombing by NATO fighter jets in the city of Brega.”

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    11 – 16
  • (9–11 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    50
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Known attacker
    NATO forces
  • Known targets
    Gaddafi forces, Other

Sources (15) [ collapse]

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the town of Brega (البريقة), for which the generic coordinates are: 30.411123, 19.570076. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

NATO forces Assessment:

  • Known belligerent
    NATO forces
  • NATO forces position on incident
    Non credible / Unsubstantiated
    Insufficient information to assess that, more likely than not, a Coalition strike resulted in civilian casualties.
  • Reason for non-credible assessment
    Insufficient evidence of civilian harm
  • Civilian deaths conceded
    None
  • Civilian injuries conceded
    None

Civilian casualty statements

NATO forces
  • Mar 8, 2012

  • The Marsa El Brega Residence and Command Bunker Facility served as the primary C2 facility for forces fielded by the 32d Brigade in and around Brega. It was deliberately targeted and struck on 13 May. During engagement of the target, it was positively identified and four precision-guided munitions were dropped. The strike was highly effective, and decisively degraded command and control in the Brega area. Battle damage assessment indicated no collateral damage. After this strike, an engineer who had been involved in the design and construction of the command bunker facility publicly confirmed that it had been constructed for Col. Gaddafi and had been purpose built for command and control functions.

Original strike reports

NATO forces
Official source

In the vicinity of Brega: 2 Tanks.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    11 – 16
  • (9–11 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    50
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Known attacker
    NATO forces
  • Known targets
    Gaddafi forces, Other

Sources (15) [ collapse]

Incident Code

LC201a

Incident date

September 19, 2019

Location

مرزق, Murzuq, Libya

Geolocation

25.919023, 13.923895 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

The US conducted a rare action against militant targets in Libya in September 2019, striking what it later said was “a terrorist facilitation and meeting location consisting of ISIS-Libya terrorist leadership and militants.”

In April 2020, US Africa Command reported that no civilians were harmed in this action near Murzuq on September 19th, 2019 – which appears to have been confused in some public reporting with a nearby problem LNA/ UAE strike on the same date (see LC201.).

A day after the original airstrike, AFRICOM had released a statement, asserting that “at this time, an airstrike that killed eight (8) terrorists is being assessed. At present, we estimate that no civilians were injured or injured as a result of this airstrike.” The statement also read that the strike was conducted in coordination with the internationally recognised Libyan Government of National Accord.

On April 28th 2020, in its first quarterly civilian casualty report, US Africa Command then reported that “AFRICOM received one allegation from an online media source claiming an unspecified number of civilians were killed as a result of a U.S. airstrike in the vicinity of Murzuq, Libya, on September 19, 2019.”

The report continued: “After review, the allegation was assessed to be unsubstantiated. On September 19, 2019 a kinetic strike was executed against a compound which U.S. intelligence confirmed was a terrorist facilitation and meeting location consisting of ISIS-Libya terrorist leadership and militants. Significant and multiple sources of intelligence was compiled to clearly identify the nature of the target. It is assessed that civilian casualties did not occur as a result of U.S. military action.”

At the time of the action, 218TV reported that 10 militants had been killed. According to Al Marsad, “a senior intelligence source told the Observatory, preferring to remain anonymous, that one of those killed was the terrorist Ali Al Tabawi”, also known as Abu Hamza Al Tabawi or Ali Al Dernawi. Le Revolution Tchadieen wrote on Facebook that militant Moussa Hajj Azrak also died in the airstrikes.

Airwars has not so far identified any public sources alleging civilian harm in this incident. The source AFRICOM may have confused the incident with alleged LNA/UAE airstrikes on Murzuq on that same day (LC201) in which, according to our records, up to four civilians were killed.

Murzuq News had reported that in total, four air raids were monitored on Murzuq on September 19th, 2019.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Discounted
    Those killed were combatants, or other parties most likely responsible.
  • Known attacker
    US Forces
  • Known target
    ISIS - Libya
  • Belligerents reported killed
    8–10

Sources (14) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (5) [ collapse]

  • AFRICOM statement on U.S. airstrikes near Murzuq on September 19th, 2019 (via Al Marsad).
  • Footage of confirmed U.S. airstrikes targeted ISIS militants near Murzuq on September 19th, 2019 (via @MMAlwrfly).
  • Translation of tweet: "One of the pages of a Chadian opposition mourns one of their leaders who died yesterday during an American raid on them in the city of Murzuq and he knows that the terrorist militia government the reconciliation government said about them that they are their forces south protection forces and they are originally mercenaries from Chad and terrorists from ISIS." (via @hmGZBUaOxvGAH4x ).
  • Militant Moussa Hajj Azrak was allegedly killed in U.S. airstrikes near Murzaq on September 19th, 2020 (via Le revolution tchadieen).

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the town of Murzuq (مرزق), for which the generic coordinates are: 25.919023, 13.923895. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

US Forces Assessment:

  • Known belligerent
    US Forces
  • US Forces position on incident
    Non credible / Unsubstantiated
    Insufficient information to assess that, more likely than not, a Coalition strike resulted in civilian casualties.
  • Reason for non-credible assessment
    Insufficient evidence of civilian harm
  • Civilian deaths conceded
    None
  • Civilian injuries conceded
    None
  • Stated location
    vicinity of Murzuq
    Nearest population center

Civilian casualty statements

US Forces
  • Apr 27, 2020

  • September 23, 2019, AFRICOM received one allegation from an online media source claiming an unspecified number of civilians were killed as a result of a U.S. airstrike in the vicinity of Murzuq, Libya, on September 19, 201 After review, the allegation was assessed to be unsubstantiated. On September 19, 2019 a kinetic strike was executed against a compound which U.S. intelligence confirmed was a terrorist facilitation and meeting location consisting of ISIS-Libya terrorist leadership and militants. Significant and multiple sources of intelligence was compiled to clearly identify the nature of the target. It is assessed that civilian casualties did not occur as a result of U.S. military action.

Original strike reports

US Forces
Official source

"9. September 23, 2019, AFRICOM received one allegation from an online media source claiming an unspecified number of civilians were killed as a result of a U.S. airstrike in the vicinity of Murzuq, Libya, on September 19, 2019. After review, the allegation was assessed to be unsubstantiated. On September 19, 2019 a kinetic strike was executed against a compound which U.S. intelligence confirmed was a terrorist facilitation and meeting location consisting of ISIS-Libya terrorist leadership and militants. Significant and multiple sources of intelligence was compiled to clearly identify the nature of the target. It is assessed that civilian casualties did not occur as a result of U.S. military action."

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Discounted
    Those killed were combatants, or other parties most likely responsible.
  • Known attacker
    US Forces
  • Known target
    ISIS - Libya
  • Belligerents reported killed
    8–10

Sources (14) [ collapse]