Update

Listed are all known reports for 2014 – via generally credible sources unless otherwise indicated – of non-combatant and ‘friendly fire’ deaths allegedly caused by the Coalition. We include locations, dates and reported casualty numbers, as well as the names of victims where known. Also cross-referenced are any known US or allied airstrikes in the […]

The funeral of Akram Shah, a government employee, killed with at least four other locals, all civilians, in June 2011 (THIS KHAN/AFP/Getty Images) As the Bureau revealed recently, the accidental killing of American Warren Weinstein and Italian Giorgio Lo Porto by the CIA in January now means at least 38 Westerners have been killed by covert US […]

Monthly summary: Below are all known daily coalition military reports relating to the air war against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria for May 2015. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as indicating where possible civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties may have occurred.   May 1st/2nd 2015 Iraq 16 strikes […]

Spanish citizen Raquel Burgos Garcia died in a CIA drone strike in Pakistan in 2005. (AP Photo/Nicolas Asfouri) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i. Key points: Drones have killed 38 Westerners since 2002 including two al Qaeda hostages killed in January. US air strikes continue in Afghanistan but the vacuum of information remains. Most drone strikes in Yemen in a […]

The US Air Base in Ramstein, Germany, has played a key role in the CIA drone strikes that killed seven Germany citizens (Flickr/US Army) The debate over America’s use of drones to kill its own citizens has never been as intense. Last week in an unprecedented announcement, President Barack Obama admitted that CIA drones had […]

Al Qaeda’s US hostage, Warren Weinstein, killed in a US drone strike in January 2015. In an unprecedented announcement today President Barack Obama admitted that two al Qaeda hostages, an American and an Italian, were killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan in January. He also said two other US citizens were killed in a […]

The ACLU has been fighting the US government in courthouses in New York and Washington DC, above (Wikimedia Commons) The US government’s tactic of releasing details about its targeted killing programme in only a piecemeal way is “very dangerous”, the American Civil Liberties Union warns in this week’s Drone News. Jameel Jaffer, the ACLU’s deputy legal director, […]

Airwars maintains an extensive all-source database of known allegations in which civilians and friendly forces have been reported killed by the Coalition, Turkey or Russia in Iraq and Syria. Our individual case studies include photographs, videos, names of the dead, and links to all known sources. These reports represent our best current understanding of events […]

Monthly summary: Below are all known daily coalition military reports relating to  the air war against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria for April 2015. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as indicating where possible civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties may have occurred.   April 1st/2nd 2015 Iraq 4 strikes (1,774-1,777) Syria 3 […]

You can see our complete archive of all known public military records of the Coalition’s air war against so-called Islamic State (Daesh) by clicking the links below. December 2018   November 2018 October 2018  September 2018  August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October […]

Saudi jets have began bombing Houthi targets across its southern border in Yemen EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i. Key points: US drone strike frequency halves from Q4 2014 to Q1 2015 Strikes appear to target the Pakistan Taliban in Afghanistan A single CIA strike kills three in Pakistan as Islamabad forces hammer the tribal areas Yemen sinks […]

Monthly Summary: Below are all known daily coalition military reports relating to the air war against Islamic State in Iraq for August 2014. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as indicating where possible civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties may have occurred.  Following the swift capture of much of northern Iraq by […]

Monthly Summary: Below are all known daily coalition military reports relating to  the air war against Islamic State in Iraq for September 2014. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as indicating where possible civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties may have occurred.  The US mission significantly expanded throughout the month, with strikes reported at Haditha […]

Monthly summary: Below are all known daily coalition military reports relating to  the air war against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria for October 2014. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as indicating where possible civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties may have occurred.  The coalition air campaign continued to intensify, with more than […]

Monthly summary:  Below are all known daily coalition military reports relating to  the air war against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria for November 2014. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as indicating where possible civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties may have occurred.  The coalition dropped 1,407 munitions on Iraq and Syria […]

Monthly summary: Below are all known daily coalition military reports relating to  the air war against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria for December 2014. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as indicating where possible civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties may have occurred.  More than 460 airstrikes targeted Islamic State in both Iraq […]

Monthly summary: Below are all known daily coalition military reports relating to  the air war against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria for January 2015. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as indicating where possible civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties may have occurred. The month witnessed the most intense coalition bombing yet, […]

Monthly summary: Below are all known daily coalition military reports relating to  the air war against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria for February 2015. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as indicating where possible civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties may have occurred. The murder of a Jordanian pilot in early February led […]

Monthly summary: Below are all known daily coalition military reports relating to  the air war against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria for March 2015. We have also included relevant video and photo releases, as well as indicating where possible civilian or ‘friendly fire’ casualties may have occurred.   MARCH 1st/2nd 2015 Iraq strikes 5 (1,468-1,472) Syria […]

US drone strikes are raising al Shabaab’s profile and inflating its importance, BBC World Service Africa editor Mary Harper told the Bureau’s Drone News podcast. Focusing on al Shabaab with sophisticated drone technology “gives [al Shabaab] almost a legitimacy in terms of the kind of group that they are claiming to be,” said Harper. The […]

A US drone strike which killed a senior al Shabaab leader in Somalia last Saturday appears to have been part of a change of tactics by the Americans since it started targeting the militant group in 2007. It was the fifth consecutive such strike against al Shabaab’s leadership, with drones now appearing to have superseded other, […]

Pakistani tribesmen offer funeral prayer -Thir Khan/AFP/Getty Images In May 2013, faced with persistent reports of drones killing civilians, President Obama announced that no strike would be authorised unless there was: “near certainty that no civilians would be killed or injured.” It was, he said, “the highest standard we can set.” The new rule seemed […]

At least 2,464 people have now been killed by US drone strikes outside the country’s declared war zones since President Barack Obama’s inauguration six years ago, the Bureau’s latest monthly report reveals. Of the total killed since Obama took his oath of office on January 20 2009, at least 314 have been civilians, while the number of […]

CIA Pakistan drone campaign reported to have killed nearly five times more people under Obama than under Bush No confirmed civilian casualties in Pakistan for second year running Domestic buildings continue to be the most frequently hit target in Pakistan Highest ever number of drone strikes in a year in Somalia Total people killed per […]

For this week’s Drone News, Abigail Fielding-Smith went to Copenhagen to interview the maker of a new documentary on drone warfare, Tonje Hessen Schei. The documentary, Drone, draws on interviews from Washington DC to Waziristan. The director explains that she is alarmed at the direction the technology is going in. Listen to this week’s episode. […]

Three drone strikes hit houses and vehicles in Pakistan’s North Waziristan area (Flickr/Maverick bashoo) Report of children killed in drone attack in Pakistan. Four strikes hit Yemen – most in a month since April. No strikes reported in Somalia. Four names added to Naming the Dead, including two children. Pakistan November 2014 actions Total CIA […]

CIA drone strikes rocket in Pakistan while the casualty rate is relatively low (US Air Force/Sr Airman Andrew Lee) Obama drone strikes in Pakistan reach 350. US drones kill at least four in Yemen. Al Shabaab lose ground in Somalia but remain a threat. Seven names added to the Bureau’s Naming the Dead project. Pakistan October 2014 actions Total CIA […]

Nek Mohammed, the first recorded casualty in the US drone war in Pakistan, attends a jirga in May 2004 – three weeks before his death (REUTERS/Kamran Wazir) This week’s Drone News looks at casualty recording; how it’s done, and what we know about the victims of airstrikes by the US and its allies. The Bureau’s […]

US strike jets have bombed targets in Iraq and Syria this month (Senior Airman Matthew Bruch/US Air Force) CIA drones end a 49-day pause in strikes in Pakistan Alleged al Qaeda fighters killed in Yemen strikes US military drones kill al Shabaab leader in Somalia Pakistan September 2014 actions Total CIA strikes in September: 2 […]

Nato is building its surveillance capacity with a new drone system (Anguskirk/Flickr) Bureau journalists discuss the use of drones in Iraq as part of the US military response to the brutality of Islamic State (ISIS) in the latest drones podcast. The US has been attacking ISIS positions in Iraq since August 8. It has launched […]