Strikes on IS group in Syria may have hit civilians: Pentagon

The Pentagon said Tuesday it launched various strikes on Islamic State group forces in Syria over the past several days, including hits on some targets that "may have resulted in civilian casualties."

A firefighter tries to extinguish a fire following an airstrike on Sept 12 Source: AAP

The incidents took place September 7, September 10 and September 12, according to a statement from CENTCOM.

It did not give a number of dead or injured.

But in the September 10 raid "near Ar Raqqah, Syria, a strike against an ISIL target may have resulted in the death of civilians near where the strike occurred," CENTCOM said, employing a alternate term used to refer to the jihadist group. 

On September 7, a raid near Dayz Az Zawr, Syria, on an ISIL target struck a non-military vehicle that drove into the target area after the weapon was released from the aircraft.

And September 12, a bombing near Ash Shaddadah, Syria, during a strike against an ISIL target another apparently non-military vehicle drove into the target area after the weapon was released from the aircraft, CENTCOM added.

Iraqi security forces, backed by coalition air power, are in the final weeks of "shaping" operations ahead of an assault to recapture Mosul, which IS seized in 2014 and which remains the jihadists' last main stronghold in Iraq.