Press. voanews.com
The Iraqi
military is casting doubt on reports that U.S.-led coalition airstrikes killed
as many as 100 civilians sheltered earlier this month in a building in the
contested city of Mosul, citing new evidence it says shows Islamic State
militants rigged the site with explosives. A Pentagon statement Saturday said
an "initial review" showed coalition airstrikes March 17 "at the
location corresponding to allegations of civilian casualties" in western
Mosul's Old City. The statement said an investigation is underway.
It also said
coalition planes "routinely strike" IS targets in the neighborhood,
and coalition forces "take all reasonable precautions during the planning
and execution of airstrikes to reduce the risk of harm to civilians." For
its part, the Iraqi military's Joint Command released a statement later
Saturday that confirmed airstrikes in the embattled city.
But it said an
investigation of the site showed "all of [the building's] walls were
rigged with bombs and there is no hole or signs that it was an airstrike
target." It also said 61 bodies had been recovered from the site, as
investigators continued to probe the wreckage. More than a half-million
civilians are still believed to remain in IS-held areas of Mosul, with many of
them used by IS extremists as human shields as Iraqi forces advance. Civilians,
humanitarian aid groups and monitoring officials have warned about the
possibility of increased civilian casualties because of an increasing demand
for airstrikes and artillery.
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