By Aaron Miller-
Australian Defence officials have revealed that two of their RAF fighter jets were involved in an Iraqi bombing mission in Iraq that killed 35 iraqi civilians. The news worsens earlier speculation a few years ago that the death toll may have been as low as two
Australian officials were originally informed in January 2018, leading to a 12 months investigation. Investigators did not travel to the site of the airstrike because of the delay in becoming aware of the incident, according to sources. The news is no consolation to the poor families who lost their loved ones in the strike, one of the bitter truths of life.
ADF officials have tried to dispute the figures by suggesting between six and 18 civilians may have been killed, based on estimates of population density, as opposed to any ground research. However, the categorical admission from the Australian Defence will have to carry more weight in terms of credibility since it comes directly from the horses mouth.
Amnesty International at the time said the strike “may have violated the rules of war”, and renewed calls for an independent commission to investigate other potentially unlawful Coalition airstrikes. At the time, estimates of the death toll of innocent civilians were as low as two, and has only emerged to have potentially been nine times that number.
The incident occurred in June 2017, at the height of the bloody battle by Iraqi and Coalition forces to retake the northern city of Mosul. Iraqi security forces encountered seven Islamic State fighters, and hurriedly brought in a Coalition air strike.
Australian officials have for the first time admitted that innocent lives were lost after two F/A-18F Super Hornets were among the jets deployed to the area, both dropping GPS-guided missiles on the target.”The Coalition assesses that between six and 18 civilians may have been killed, and that’s based on an assessment of population densities,” Air Marshal Mel Hupfeld, Chief Joint Operations revealed.
Air Marshal Hupfeld conceded that had it been clear civilians were close by, the airstrike would never have been allowed. However, the Air Marshall says Iraqi security forces cannot be blamed because of the extreme pressure they were under from IS fighters at the time of the attack.
“The assessment was that … the likelihood of civilian casualties or the civilians present there was low, but there’s always the likelihood,” he said. “The action in Mosul was the most ferocious air campaign that we have seen in our generation.”It is an unfortunate consequence of war that these civilian casualties have occurred.”
ACCOUNTABLE
In November 2017, the American-led coalition battling Islamic State said at least 800 civilians have been killed in airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since its campaign began in 2014 – far fewer than the numbers documented by monitoring and human rights groups. Other professional observers at the time contradicted the figure which they put in excess of 5,000 at the time. That figure is for a combination of both Iraq and Syria, which is different from the admission of six to eighteen civilian deaths stated today in Iraq alone.
At the time, the coalition said in a monthly report: “We continue to hold ourselves accountable for actions that may have caused unintentional injury or death to civilians.”