A U.S. airstrike killed four civilians in Iraq back in March, according to a U.S. Central Command report released Friday.
One of the civilian victims of the March 13 strike near al Hatra, Iraq, was likely a child, though the investigation could not determine age or gender with reasonable certainty without further evidence.
The airstrikes, conducted by a U.S. A-10, targeted a manned Islamic State checkpoint, according to the executive summary of the Central Command report. The target was “thoroughly reviewed and validated,” according to a press release.
Before the strike, two vehicles arrived at the checkpoint and the drivers exited their vehicle to interact with Islamic State personnel at the checkpoint for about 40 minutes. Based upon their actions, the aircrew and Combined Air Operations Center personnel assessed that they were also Islamic State members, the executive summary said.
However, video footage showed that four additional personnel, whose statuses were unknown, also excited the two vehicles after the aircrews had released their weapons. Those four civilians, in addition to the Islamic State members manning the checkpoint, were all killed in the strike.
“We regret the unintentional loss of lives and keep those families affected in our thoughts,” said Lt. Gen. CQ Brown, U.S. Air Forces Central Command commander, in a statement. “Our goal is to defeat Daesh, a terrorist organization that continuously wraps itself around the population, and we do everything we can to prevent unintended deaths or injuries to non-combatants.”
The U.S. began investigating the incident after an Iraqi woman emailed a non-governmental organization saying it was her car that was struck with civilians inside and asking for compensation.
The death of these four civilians now brings the total killed during anti-Islamic State operations to six, Col. Pat Ryder, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said. He also said there are 26 ongoing investigations in various stages looking at possible civilian deaths.
The report’s release comes just one day after Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said that the Pentagon is prepared to loosen the rules of engagement against the Islamic State, which some have said are unnecessarily strict. The Defense Department, however, has previously defended the strict rules to avoid civilian casualties when striking an enemy that often hides in areas populated by civilians.
Ryder also had no update to provide on when the military would release the eagerly awaited civilian casualty assessment for the Kunduz bombing in Afghanistan, where U.S. airstrikes killed staff and patients at a Doctors Without Borders hospital.
