Pentagon: More than 350 Civilians Killed in US Strikes against Daesh
Local Editor
At least 352 civilians have been killed in US-led strikes against Daesh [the Arabic Acronym for the terrorist "ISIS"/"ISIL" group] targets in Iraq and Syria since operations began in 2014, the Pentagon has said.
The Combined Joint Task Force, in its monthly assessment of civilian casualties from the US coalition's operations against the terrorist group, said it was still assessing 42 reports of civilian deaths.
It added that 45 civilians were killed between November 2016 and March 2017. It reported 80 civilian deaths from August 2014 to the present that had not previously been announced. The report included 26 deaths from three separate strikes in March.
The military's official tally is far below those of other outside groups. Monitoring group Airwars said more than 3,000 civilians have been killed by coalition air strikes.
Included in Sunday's tally were 14 civilians killed by a strike in March that set off a secondary explosion, as well as 10 civilians who were killed in a strike on Isis headquarters in the same month.
"We regret the unintentional loss of civilian lives ... and express our deepest sympathies to the families and others affected by these strikes," the Pentagon said in a statement.
The report did not include findings from an ongoing investigation into a 17 March strike targeting Daesh militants in the Iraqi city of Mosul. That strike resulted in more than 100 civilian deaths, according to reports from residents. Last month, the US acknowledged coalition planes conducted a strike "at the location corresponding to civilian casualties," but did not confirm the reports of high civilian casualties.
Coalition officials have declined to give a time frame as to when the investigation into the incident will be complete.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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