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US airstrikes responsible for ¼ of civilian deaths in Mosul

A new United Nations report suggests that a large number of civilians, 1 in 4, were killed by the United States-led coalition’s airstrikes during the Battle of Mosul.

According to a new report published by the United Nations, airstrikes launched by the U.S.-led coalition led to the death of 1 in 4 civilians during the operation to ‘liberate’ the city from the Islamic State group.

The report, commissioned by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), reported that at an “absolute minimum,” 2,521 civilians were killed and 1,673 wounded during the U.S.-led coalition operation to retake the Islamic State group’s so-called capital in Iraq.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ‘caliph’ of the Islamic State group, announced the creation of the ‘Islamic State’ in Mosul’s al-Nuri Mosque in 2014.

The UN report indicated that at least 741 of the victims were directly killed by the Islamic State group, 1,780 are thought to have been killed as a result of clashes within the city, and at least 461 were killed by airstrikes launched by the U.S.-led coalition during the operation.

The coalition confirmed its involvement in the death of 295 civilians while the rest, the report claims, “could not be attributed.”

The report also called on human rights abusers to pay compensation to victims. At this time, the coalition has only responded to 2 compensation requests stemming from airstrikes in Mosul.

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