The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq acknowledged Friday the deaths of another nine civilians, increasing the toll of non-fighters killed to at least 892.

The coalition completed a review in April of 159 potential civilian casualty reports and found five were considered credible, resulting in the nine civilian fatalities, a statement said.

They concerned strikes in Iraq and Syria between January 2017 and January 2018.

On January 9, 2017, near the Iraqi city of Mosul, two civilians were killed when a vehicle loaded with explosives that was heading towards coalition positions was struck, the statement said.

On November 1, 2017, three civilians were killed and two others wounded in a strike on a road used by IS fighters in the Deir Ezzor region of Syria's Euphrates Valley.

Three other coalition strikes -- on November 16, December 28 and January 8 -- against IS fighters who had retreated after the fall of their self-proclaimed capital Raqa resulted in a total of four deaths and four wounded.

Of the other potential civilian casualty reports reviewed, the coalition said 149 were deemed non-credible and five were redundant.

From August 2014 to April 2018 the coalition conducted a total of 29,358 strikes and "assesses at least 892 civilians have been unintentionally killed," it said.

Monitoring group Airwars says the number of civilian deaths acknowledged by the US-led coalition is well below the true toll of the bombing campaign, estimating that at least 6,259 civilians have lost their lives.

The US-led operations to fight IS in Iraq and Syria have largely wound down, with the jihadists ousted from almost all of the territory they once held.

Related Links
Space War News

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Czech MPs up quota for army missions abroad
Prague (AFP) June 1, 2018
Czech lawmakers on Friday raised the quota for army missions deployed by the EU and NATO member abroad including Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali and the Baltic states, but final approval for the deployments could fail due to opposition from the Communists. The parliament raised the quota for Czech soldiers in missions abroad from the current 806 to 1,081 for 2018, 1,191 for 2019 and 1,096 for 2020. "We will operate in the countries we're in, and we will increase our presence in some missions, just like ... read more