Iraq news reports say 18 civilians killed in strike aimed at militants
Iraqi news outlets reported Monday that at least 18 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed in an airstrike on a town under siege by fighters from the extremist group Islamic State.
The reports said that the U.S.-led coalition conducted the attack that hit at least one building in Hit, a strategic Euphrates River Valley town in Iraq's Anbar province.
But Maj. Curtis J. Kellogg, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, said there was no evidence of civilian casualties in Hit.
We have seen the media reports alleging civilian casualties in Hit, Iraq, Maj. Kellogg said in an email responding to a Los Angeles Times inquiry. However, based on our current assessment, we believe them to be false and have seen no evidence to corroborate these claims. I can assure you that prior to any mission, every precaution is taken to ensure we do not harm civilians or civilian facilities. However, we take all such reports seriously and look into them further.
Hits general hospital received 18 bodies, including three women and eight children, all killed in an airstrike, according to Iraqi news accounts.
It's possible that the coalition's air force struck the houses by mistake," an unidentified source told Erem News, a local network.
"Coalition aircraft attempted to target houses containing ISIS elements, but the [projectiles] fell on the houses of citizens, the report said, using a common acronym for Islamic State.
A Central Command news release Monday, which used another acronym for the militants, said that "an airstrike west of Ramadi damaged an ISIL-held building," but did not say whether the attack was in Hit, 43 miles west of the central province's capital.
Hit, a tribal town in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Anbar, has been under assault since last week by Islamic State forces, which have seized vast stretches of territory in Iraq and neighboring Syria. Many residents have fled the violence.
Hit was also a bastion of anti-U.S. militants during the U.S. occupation that ended in 2011.
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Iraq news reports say 18 civilians killed in strike aimed at militants