U.S. airstrikes killed 20 more civilians in Iraq and Syria, CENTCOM says

U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria killed 20 civilians and injured 11 between Sept. 10 and Feb. 2, U.S. Central Command said Friday.

Nine airstrikes targeting the Islamic State terrorist group are believed to have resulted in civilian casualties during that period, according to the report. In many of those cases, civilians approached the target area after weapons were already in flight.

The largest loss of life occurred Oct. 5, in Atshanah in northern Iraq, when the U.S. carried out a strike on an Islamic State position that was being used to launch mortars, according to the report. Eight civilians were killed.

The second deadliest event occurred on Dec. 12 at a suspected Islamic State checkpoint in Ramadi, Iraq, which is west of Baghdad. CENTCOM said weapons were already in flight when civilians moved into the target area.

“We deeply regret the unintentional loss of life and injuries resulting from those strikes and express our deepest sympathies to the victims’ families and those affected,” said a statement from CENTCOM. “The Coalition takes all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties during the course of military operations. In all of the cases released today, assessments determined that although the strikes complied with the law of armed conflict, and all appropriate precautions were taken, civilian casualties unfortunately did occur.”
But the non-profit group Airwars estimates a much higher civilian death toll. While the CENTCOM report focused on U.S. airstrikes, Airwars took a look across the coalition currently fighting the Islamic State.

For roughly the same time period, September to February, Airwars estimates there were approximately 940 civilians killed by airstrikes.

The group notes that the accuracy of most of the reports is “fair,” which they define as “a responsible level of public reporting of an alleged incident from two or more generally credible sources” plus “confirmed coalition strikes in the near vicinity for the date in question.”

Airwars considers the cause of about 300 of the civilian deaths to be “contested,” meaning there are claims of airstrikes from multiple nations or that forces under the command of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad or the Iraqi government may have been responsible for the strikes.

Airwars is funded by several foundations and charitable trusts, and tracks airstrikes by analyzing available data from coalition reports of airstrikes as well as those carried out by Russian, Syrian and Iraqi forces.

There’s big disagreement on just how many civilians have been killed since U.S. and coalition partners began bombing in August 2014.

Including the information released Friday, the Pentagon estimates 41 civilians have been killed in the Operation inherent Resolve air campaign. Airwars, however, estimates that number is closer to 11,800.