Middle East

Coalition forces killed more civilians than Islamic State, study finds

02/08/2018

By Anne Gulland
15 May 2018

More people were killed during the nine-month battle to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul than during the three-year occupation by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), a study has claimed.

Last year’s battle to drive Isil out of Mosul left huge swathes of the city in ruins and displaced up to one million people.

A US-led coalition bombed key targets in what were described as “pinpoint airstrikes” by Michael Fallon, who was then the UK’s defence secretary, when the city was finally liberated last July.

The RAF struck more than 750 targets during the campaign to liberate the city, second only to the US, according to the Ministry of Defence.

But a survey of around 1,200 households in the city shows that mortality rates among civilians increased nearly 13 times during the battle to liberate Mosul.