A US strike targeting Islamic State fighters in a Mosul building in Iraq killed at least 105 civilians when the blast caused ISIS weapons to explode.
US Air Force Brigadier General Matt Isler confirmed the incident on March 17 claimed the lives of at least 105 civilians – adding a further 36 remain unaccounted for.
According to Isler, Iraqi counterterrorism service troops and coalition forces were not aware civilians were in the building, and ordered an air strike.
According to reports at the time, civilians – mostly women and children – who were being used as ‘human shields’ by ISIS were killed in the blast.
One man who survived the blast told reporters: ‘The entire neighbourhood was fleeing because of missiles so people had taken refuge here.
‘I didn’t know if it was a shelter. I didn’t know we couldn’t go there. My entire family is inside, 27 people. We pulled only one of them out. We don’t know about the rest.’
Brigadier Mohammed al-Jawari told reporters in March: ‘Finding survivors is very difficult because the area is completely destroyed.
‘It’s a very big disaster, indeed we can describe it as a disaster.’
Brigadier Isler said: ‘The secondary explosion triggered a rapid failure of the structure which killed the two ISIS snipers, 101 civilians sheltered in the bottom floors of the structure and four civilians in the neighboring structure to the west.
‘An additional 36 civilians who are believed to be connected to the structure remain unaccounted for.’
The United States has previously acknowledged that it ‘probably’ had a role in the civilian deaths, but it has always said this was unintentional.
MORE HERE: US probe finds over 100 civilians died in Mosul air strike | Daily Mail Online
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