At least 112 corpses have been removed from the site of a United States-led coalition in Iraq’s Mosul, Iraqi health official Ahmed Dubardani told CNN on Tuesday. United States officials have not responded to the official’s statement yet.
An Amnesty report dated March 27 said the high number of casualties was because civilians followed the local government’s advisory to not flee the area.
“The high civilian toll suggests that coalition forces leading the offensive in Mosul have failed to take adequate precautions to prevent civilian deaths, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” Amnesty’s Donatella Rovera said.
The report said, “Coalition forces should have known that these strikes were likely to result in a significant numbers of civilian casualties. Disproportionate attacks and indiscriminate attacks violate international humanitarian law and can constitute war crimes.”
On March 26, the United States had confirmed that a coalition strike led by them in Iraq had killed more than 200 civilians in Mosul on March 17 and 23. The confirmation came after the Iraqi government decided to suspend their offensive following reports about the civilian deaths.
The US administration said “an initial review of strike data” indicated that an airstrike was carried out “at the location corresponding to allegations of civilian casualties”. The coalition “takes all allegations of civilian casualties seriously and a formal Civilian Casualty Credibility Assessment has been opened to determine the facts surrounding the strike”, BBC had reported them as saying.
The fight to take back western Mosul from the Islamic State group had started in February. The coalition forces said the assault was launched to free over 6,50,000 civilians trapped in the city. Islamic State fighters have used civilians as human shields during past battles.
The city, which the Islamic State group has held control of since 2014, is its last major stronghold in the country. The international fraternity has expressed confidence that taking back control of the region would deal a strong blow to the terror group’s designs.
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