The U.S. military on Saturday acknowledged for the first time that it launched an airstrike against the Islamic State last week in the densely packed Iraqi city of Mosul where residents said more than 100 people were killed.
“An initial review of strike data … indicates that, at the request of the Iraqi security forces, the Coalition struck ISIS fighters and equipment, March 17, in west Mosul at the location corresponding to allegations of civilian casualties,” the task force leading the coalition said in a statement.
Previously, the U.S.-led coalition had said that officials were unsure whether the U.S. had conducted air attacks targeting the affected site in Mosul al-Jadida where local officials said they have so far pulled at least 60 bodies from one destroyed building.
The U.S. military is conducting an initial investigation into the incident.
If confirmed, the incident would mark the greatest loss of civilian life since the U.S. began strikes on ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria in 2014. The allegations add to questions about the conduct of the campaign to recapture Mosul, where reports of civilian deaths are rising as government-aligned forces advance through a fiercely contested urban area.
Airwars, a U.K.-based monitoring organization, has raised the alarm about what it said is a surge in recent weeks of reported deaths caused by U.S.-led airstrikes. The conduct of the air campaign is under especially close scrutiny in the early days of the Trump administration, which has promised to wage a more aggressive campaign against ISIS.
President Donald Trump has already asked military leaders to consider whether requirements on U.S. military operations against the group should be loosened.
The U.S.-led coalition said its goal was “zero civilian casualties.”