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US Strikes in Iraq, Syria Killed 484 Civilians

US Strikes in Iraq, Syria Killed 484 Civilians
folder_openSyria access_time6 years ago
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Local Editor

A new Operation Inherent Resolve report upped the official civilian death toll of the US-led aerial bombing campaign in Syria and Iraq by more than a third, confirming 484 civilian deaths - while activists claim the figure is several times higher.

US Strikes in Iraq, Syria Killed 484 Civilians

"To date, based on information available, CJTF-OIR [Combined Joint Task Force] assesses that, it is more likely than not, at least 484 civilians have been unintentionally killed by Coalition strikes since the start of Operation Inherent Resolve," a statement released on Friday read.

The coalition analyzed each individual report and based its official civilian death toll only on those it finds "credible."

According to the coalition, in the period between August 2014 and April 2017, a total of 21,035 airstrikes were carried out against Daesh [ISIS/ISIL]. This figure breaks down into 44,330 separate engagements.

"Although the Coalition takes extraordinary efforts to strike military targets in a manner that minimizes the risk of civilian casualties, in some incidents casualties are unavoidable. Sixteen reports were assessed to be credible resulting in the unintentional death of 132 civilians," the statement added.

The new report effectively upped the total civilian death toll by more than a third, as last month's report acknowledged 352 civilian deaths.

The incident which contributed the most to the drastic increase in the official death toll was an airstrike carried out on March 17. A separate probe was launched into the incident, during which "101 civilians sheltered in the bottom floors of the structure, and four civilians in a neighboring structure were killed."

A coalition report claimed that air support was called in against two snipers targeting the Iraqi forces from a rooftop. The blame for the massacre, however, was shifted on to the terrorists, as the coalition claimed that the airstrike ignited Daesh-planted explosives, which led to secondary explosions and the collapse of the structure.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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