The Iraqi military reported a number of airstrikes across the mountains north of Baghdad on Saturday, claiming to have targeted ISIS hideouts and killed “dozens,” though they offered few details and promised more information later.
The Himreen mountains, where the strikes took place, span three provinces, which may explain the lack of details coming from local officials, which usually emerge before official military statements. Still, dozens is a very non-specific figure.
How Iraq came to any figure at all is less clear, as the Iraqi military carried out airstrikes but probably didn’t have specific forces on the ground to look into immediate aftermath of strikes.
This likely means dozens of deaths are speculation based on how many people were believed to be in the hideouts, and are assumed to be killed because those hideouts were destroyed. This sort of speculation precludes survivors, but is a common practice in the region.
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