Residents of Mosul Jadida retrieve bodies from the rubble following the coalition airstrikes. (photo: Felipe Dana/AP)
Iraq
Suspends Mosul Offensive After US Airstrike Atrocity
By Martin Chulov and Emma
Graham-Harrison, Guardian UK
26 March 17
Move comes as international outrage grows over airstrikes that
killed at least 150 people in Mosul Jadida neighbourhood
Iraqi
military leaders have halted their push to recapture west Mosul from Islamic
State as international outrage grew over the civilian toll from airstrikes that
killed at least 150 people in a single district of the city.
The
attack on the Mosul Jadida neighbourhood is thought to have been one of the
deadliest bombing raids for civilians since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Rescuers were still pulling bodies from the rubble on Saturday, more than a
week after the bombs landed, when the US-led coalition confirmed that its
aircraft had targeted Isis fighters in the area.
They
carried out the attack on 17 March “at the request of the Iraqi security
forces”, and have now launched a formal investigation into reports of civilian
casualties, the coalition said.
British
planes were among those operating in western Mosul at the time. Asked if they
could have been involved in the airstrikes, a spokesman did not rule out the
possibility of British involvement, saying: “We are aware of reports [of
civilian casualties] and will support the coalition investigation.”
There
had been no reports of a UK role in any civilian casualties in more than two
years of fighting Isis, he added. “We have not seen evidence that we have been
responsible for civilian casualties so far. Through our rigorous targeting
processes we will continue to seek to minimise the risk of civilian casualties,
but that risk can never be removed entirely.”
A UK
report on the 17 March fighting, which was issued just a couple of days later,
described “very challenging conditions with heavy cloud”. Tornado jets were
sent to “support Iraqi troops advancing inside western Mosul” in intense urban
fighting, where crews had to “engage targets perilously close to the Iraqi
troops whom they were assisting”. They used Paveway guided missiles to hit five
targets. The coalition said in a separate statement it had carried out four airstrikes
aimed at “three Isis tactical units”. They destroyed more than 50 vehicles and
25 “fighting positions”.
The
deaths have intensified concerns over up to 400,000 Mosul residents who are
still packed into the crowded western half of the city, as Iraqi security
forces backed by foreign air power advance on Isis’s last major stronghold in
the country.
Civil
defence workers say they have pulled more than 140 bodies from the ruins of
three buildings in Mosul Jadida and believe that dozens more remain under the
rubble of one building, a large home with a once cavernous basement, in which
up to 100 people had hidden last Friday morning.
Local
people at the site told the Observer that the enormous damage inflicted on the
homes and much of the surrounding area had been caused by airstrikes, which
battered the neighbourhood in the middle of a pitched battle with Isis members,
who were under attack from Iraqi forces.
The
UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Lise Grande, said: “We are stunned by
this terrible loss of life.”
Chris
Woods, director of monitoring group Airwars, said: “The Jadida incident alone
is the worst toll of a single [airstrike] incident that I can recall in
decades. The coalition’s argument that it doesn’t target noncombatants risks
being devalued when so many civilians are being killed in west Mosul.”
He
warned that the deaths, and other recent attacks in Syria that have claimed
dozens of lives, risked turning public sentiment against the coalition. “We
have until recently always credited the coalition for taking care to avoid
civilian casualties, compared with the Russians. But since the last months of
2016 you have seen this steep climb in civilian casualties and public
sentiment has turned very sharply against the US-led coalition.”
As the
scale of the disaster became apparent, Iraqi military sources confirmed that
they had been ordered not to launch new operations.
The
Australian defence force issued a statement on Sunday in response to questions
about its involvement. “While there are no specific allegations against
Australian aircraft, Australia will fully support the coalition-led (Operation
Inherent Resolve) investigation into these allegations.”
Mosul
Jadida residents said three homes had taken direct hits from airstrikes and
others had been damaged by debris and shelling. “They started in the morning
and they continued till around 2pm,” said Mustafa Yeheya. “There were Isis on
the roof of several of the buildings and they were in the streets fighting. But
the strange thing is that the house they were hiding in, their military room,
was not even hit. None of their bases was.”
Journalists
were banned from entering west Mosul on Saturday and Iraqi commanders could not
be contacted. Iraqi and US forces have previously said that Isis deliberately
blended among the civilian population and, in some cases, fighters were posted
near civilian targets in a bid to increase casualties and slow the offensive
against them.
A
United States Central Command statement said: “Our goal has always been for zero
civilian casualties, but the coalition will not abandon our commitment to our
Iraqi partners because of Isis’s inhuman tactics terrorising civilians, using
human shields and fighting from protected sites such as schools, hospitals,
religious sites and civilian neighbourhoods.”
Muawiya
Ismael, who said he had lost six members of his clan in the attack, said: “It
is true that this was a battle zone and that Isis were here. They had about 15
people in the area, and they were in high positions. But they did not have
heavy guns. Nothing that should justify an attack of this scale. It was not in
proportion to the threat and soldiers could have fixed this.”
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