US opens investigation into its role in Mosul air raid that killed dozens of civilians
The US military has launched a formal investigation into what role it played in the deaths of dozens of civilians in Mosul, Iraq, earlier this month, amid warnings from a top American general that the dense urban fight is making it harder to avoid killing innocents.
General Joseph Votel, head of US Central Command, told Congress that Islamic State militants are exploiting American sensitivities to civilian casualties, using people as human shields to avoid being targeted by strikes.
Votel and other military officials have, in recent days, acknowledged that the US probably played a role in heavy casualties on March 17, when air strikes destroyed a building filled with civilians. Residents and outside groups have said the explosion killed at least 100 people.
Votel said the investigation will look at what Islamic State militants did to contribute to the civilian deaths in the March 17 strike. He and others have said the munitions used by the US that day should not have taken the entire building down, suggesting that militants may have deliberately gathered civilians there and planted other explosives.
In one instance, the officials said a precision US strike took out the sniper but left the building intact. Later, they said, civilians were seen being freed from the building. The officials said the US, as a result, has to carefully calculate what types of munitions to use in order to limit destruction. At times the military will decide to wait rather than execute an immediate strike.
They noted, however, that if US or partner forces are being attacked, the U.S. will launch strikes to defend them. And that decision can be made quickly by commanders on the ground, closer to the fight.
Votel also told the committee that nearly 800 Iraqi security forces have been killed and 4,600 wounded in the increasingly brutal battle to retake Mosul from IS extremists that began last fall.
Under questioning from lawmakers, Votel repeated US military assertions that the military rules of engagement have not been changed or relaxed to allow for more civilian casualties. He said the only change authorised late last year was to allow certain combat decisions be made by US commanders closer to the fight as the battle moved into the densely populated areas of the city. That decision removes a layer of approval that was previously needed, but still requires the commander on the ground to go through the same analysis and consideration of civilian casualties that has been done all along.
Amnesty International on Tuesday said the rising death toll in Mosul suggested the US-led coalition wasn’t taking adequate precautions as it helps Iraqi forces try to retake the city.
The fight for western Mosul began in February after Iraqi security forces pushed IS out of the eastern side of the Tigris River city. In recent weeks, IS defenders have packed into neighbourhoods with narrow streets and trapped civilians.
Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, the top US commander of American forces in Iraq, said Tuesday that the increase in civilian casualties has been “fairly predictable” given the heavily populated urban neighbourhoods. He said the battle in the western portion of the city will be the toughest phase of the war, adding, “it is there that the enemy has invested two-and-a-half years of defensive preparations.”
