In this Oct. 2, 2017 photo, family members bury their relative in a graveyard in Mosul after his body was exhumed hours earlier. Under Iraqi law, Mosul residents must recover the bodies of their relatives killed during the final battle to oust Islamic State from the city in order to receive a death certificate from the government. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
In this Oct. 2, 2017 photo, family members bury their relative in a graveyard in Mosul after his body was exhumed hours earlier. Under Iraqi law, Mosul residents must recover the bodies of their relatives killed during the final battle to oust Islamic State from the city in order to receive a death certificate from the government. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) Credit: Bram Janssen

MOSUL, IraqUp to 11,000 civilians died in liberation

Between 9,000 and 11,000 people were killed in the nine-month battle to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group, a civilian casualty rate nearly 10 times higher than has been previously reported, an Associated Press investigation has found.

The deaths aren’t acknowledged by the U.S.-led coalition, the Iraqi government or IS’s caliphate.

Of the nearly 10,000 deaths the AP found, around a third of the casualties died in bombardment by the U.S.-led coalition or Iraqi forces. The coalition, which has not sent anyone to Mosul to investigate recent allegations, acknowledges responsibility for only 326 of the deaths. Another third were killed in Islamic State group militants’ final frenzy of violence. And it could not be determined which side was responsible for the deaths of the remainder.

Associated Press