US acknowledges role in Mosul air strike that killed more than 100 civilians
An Iraqi military commander suggested that the large death toll in the March 17 incident may have been partially caused by the fact that a missile struck a car bomb, unleashing a giant explosion
The US military has acknowledged for the first time that it launched an air strike against the Islamic State in the densely packed Iraqi city of Mosul, where residents say more than 100 people were killed in a single event.
If confirmed, the March 17 incident would mark the greatest loss of civilian life since the United States began strikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
An “initial review” showed that the coalition struck Islamic State fighters and equipment in west Mosul at the request of Iraq forces and “at the location corresponding to allegations of civilian casualties,” the task force leading the coalition said in a statement.
Previously, the US-led coalition had said officials were unsure whether there were any air attacks targeting the specific area of the neighbourhood Mosul al-Jadida at the time when residents claim a strike killed 137 civilians.
Watch: funerals in Mosul after US air strikes
Iraqi officials working on the rescue said they had pulled 83 bodies - including many women and children - from a destroyed building by sundown on Saturday. They have yet to complete excavations at the site.