Amnesty International has scolded the US-led coalition in Mosul for misplaced and excessive airstrikes, urging it to publicly admit its failure to protect civilian lives. The NGO is proposing to establish a commission to look into reported violations.
In a new 50-page report published Tuesday, the human rights group sheds light on the scale of the loss of civilian life and suffering that the people of Mosul have had to endure during the offensive to recapture the city from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS, ISIL) terrorists.
At least 426 civilians died and over 100 were wounded by either terrorists or international coalition bombings result of 45 attacks spanning from January to mid-May, the group said in a summary of the report, titled: “At any cost: The civilian catastrophe in West Mosul.”
The report draws on expert data and information provided by local residents.
At least 105 of the victims died in a US airstrike on western Mosul’s al-Jadida district on March 17, which the coalition mounted “to neutralize two IS snipers,” the report said.
The often disproportionate and imprecise use of deadly force by the international coalition fighting terrorists in Mosul has prompted major criticism from Amnesty.
The scathing report and the recommendations to be introduced come in the wake of Iraqi Prime Minister Minister Haider al-Abadi’s arrival in Mosul on Sunday to congratulate the troops there with a“great victory” over the ISIS militants. While Iraqi forces continue to clear out pockets in the western part of the city where small groups of jihadists are holing up, the Iraqi government expects the liberation to be a matter of time.
In the course of the lingering offensive to take the city from terrorists, launched in October last year, over 8,000 civilians are estimated by the United Nations to have been killed or wounded. Around 915,000 people have been displaced with the majority unable to return any time soon as their homes were completely destroyed or severely damaged. It is estimated that 16 out of 44 Mosul’s residential districts sustained heavy damage and 22 were moderately damaged.