U.S. Central Command is reviewing the video of every bomb dropped on West Mosul over a 10-day period to try to determine of it is responsible for the collapse of building that killed 100 to 200 civilians this month.
“We are looking at getting ground truth, it’s our highest priority,” said Air Force Col. John Thomas, speaking to Pentagon reporters by phone from Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
The U.S. military said the only targets it is bombing in the densely populated section of Mosul are ones that are designated as legitimate by Iraqi Security Forces, which is doing the tough door-to-door fighting on the ground.
The U.S. has acknowledged that it conducted a strike against a suicide truck bomb March 17, very close to the location where Iraqi civilians were seeking shelter in the basement of a building.
So far, more than 100 bodies have been pulled from the rubble.
The military says a full investigation is underway to determine if the deaths are the result of a U.S. or coalition airstrike, or if the building and some nearby houses might have been brought down by ISIS booby traps, or perhaps from the shock waves from the destruction of the explosives-laden truck in the narrow street.
Pentagon officials say the U.S.-led coalition continues to follow strict procedures aimed at minimizing the risk of unintended civilian casualties, and that a recent series of high-profile allegations of mass casualties is not the result of any loosening of the rules of engagement.
“There is no military force in the world that has proven more sensitive to civilian casualties,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said to a pool reporter while meeting the Qatari defense minister at the Pentagon Monday.
Mattis said in fighting ISIS, the U.S. is “keenly aware” that it is fighting an enemy who “hides behind women and children.”
“We go out of our way to always do everything humanly possible to reduce the loss of life or injury among innocent people,” Mattis said. “The same cannot be said for our adversaries.”
Pentagon officials said the fight to liberate the rest of West Mosul from the control of Islamic State terrorists is some of the toughest fighting of the war. But over the weekend, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi predicted ISIS will be defeated in Iraq in a matter of weeks.
“I think the defeat is sure, it’s definite. We finished the job in a very short time. It is within our reach,” al-Abadi told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace. “Within the next few weeks.”
