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US-led raids kill 54 Iraq/Syria civilians

US-led air strikes have killed 54 civilians in Iraq and Syria from March to October, the US military says.

The US-led coalition killed 54 civilians between March 31 and October 22 while carrying out air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria, the US military says.

Up to 24 civilians were killed in one strike in mid-July near the Syrian city of Manbij, the statement said on Thursday.

At the time the opposition Syrian National Coalition called for a suspension of the air campaign against Islamic State in Syria while reports of the Manbij strike were investigated and US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said reports of those civilian casualties would be investigated.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had said at least 56 civilians were killed in air strikes north of Manbij.

On July 18, about 100 Islamic State fighters were preparing for a counter attack against Syrian Democratic Forces near Manbij, the statement said.

"Unknown to coalition planners, civilians were moving around within the military staging area, even as other civilians in the nearby village had departed over the previous days," the statement said.

It throws light on the challenges in coalition air strikes against Islamic State in parts of Iraq and Syria where the United States does not have ground forces or reliable informants within the population.

This brings the total number of civilians killed by the Coalition to 173 since strikes started in 2014, which is significantly lower than estimates from other groups.

In October, Amnesty International said the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State had not taken enough precautions to avoid civilian casualties in Syria and that as many as 300 civilians have been killed in 11 attacks conducted by the coalition since September 2014.

The United States has conducted 12,633 air strikes in Iraq and Syria as of November 17, according to US military data.


2 min read

Published

Source: AAP



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