US military confirms Syria civilian deaths
July 29, 2016
US Central Command (Centcom) confirmed there had been 14 new deaths resulting from the bombing campaign against the self-styled "Islamic State" group.
The news brings the total official toll to 55 killed, although the true figure could be far higher.
The announcement was made after Centcom, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East - looked at six US airstrikes between July 28, 2015 and April 29, 2016, in which it was claimed there had been civilian deaths.
The Centcom probe found that among those killed were three civilians who died in a strike targeting an IS group financial storage facility in Mosul.
Four more died in an attack targeting the Australian Neil Prakash, who was considered to be an influential IS group recruiter and who also died in the bombardment.
Centcom said that, in another strike on April 26 near Qayyarah in Iraq, a civilian died when a motorcycle "unexpectedly appeared in the target area after the US aircraft had already released its weapon."
"We deeply regret the unintentional loss of life and injuries resulting from our airstrikes and express our sympathies to those affected," Centcom said.
More civilian deaths near Manbij?
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 15 more civilians were killed on Thursday, when coalition airstrikes hit a town controlled by IS some 23 kilometers (14 miles) northwest of Manjib, a strategic point between Turkey and the IS stronghold of Raaqa.
The coalition had announced that it was carrying out a formal investigation to determine whether dozens of civilians were killed a week earlier in an air attack amid fighting near Manbij. The Observatory said at least 56 civilians, including 11 children, died as they fled from a village.
After examining "internal and external information", the coalition determined that there was sufficient credible evidence of civilian victims to open a formal inquiry, said spokesman Colonel Chris Garver on Wednesday.
According to Observatory figures, some 600 Syrians - including 136 children - were killed in coalition airstrikes since 2014. Airwars, another NGO based in the UK, estimates that airstrikes in Syrian and Iraq have killed more than 1,500 civilians.
rc/kl (AP, AFP, Reuters)