US-Led Airstrikes Kill Dozens of Civilians in Mosul

UN Warns Civilian Casualties Are Much Larger than Reported

Adding to the ever-growing civilian toll of the invasion of the major ISIS city of Mosul, warplanes from the US-led coalition attacked a house in the Jadida District, believed to belong to a senior ISIS commander, causing widespread damage in the area and killing between 25 and 30 civilian bystanders.

The US says they are still looking into the reports and could not yet confirm if their planes were responsible, but adding insult to injury, the reports out of Mosul suggest the intended target wasn’t even at home at the time, so he did not end up among the substantial casualties.

Centcom confirmed that they “routinely” launch airstrikes in the area, and that the location in question appears to be in close proximity to coalition strikes that day, meaning it is presumed to be among them. This comes amid growing UN concerns about civilian casualties in Mosul.

The UN’s most recent comments warned that the civilian casualties in Mosul are far higher than yet acknowledged, saying that the expected civilian casualties in fighting in a large city would be 15% up to 20% of the casualties in the fight, and that rather their indications are that about half of all casualties in Mosul are civilian bystanders.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.