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US confirms their air strike on ISIS killed 105 civilians, the target was 2 snipers

A

AcademicSaucer

Member
The United States has admitted that at least 105 Iraqi civilians were killed in an air strike it carried out in Mosul in March.

US Central Command (CentCom) said it had targeted two snipers from so-called Islamic State (IS) with what it called a "precision-guided munition".
However, the strike detonated explosives that militants had placed in the building, CentCom said.

Civilians sheltering in the lower floors were killed when it collapsed.
CentCom said the death toll included four civilians in another nearby structure.
Eyewitnesses claimed another 36 non-combatants were also in the building, but US authorities said it had "insufficient evidence to determine their status".

CentCom previously said the planes had acted at the request of Iraqi security forces, as coalition forces attempted to wrest control of the city from IS.

The civilians had gathered in the lower floors of the building after being expelled from their homes by IS fighters, a declassified summary of the report said.
Those organising the strike "could not have predicted the presence of civilians in the structure prior to the engagement," it added.

US officials said the type of bomb was chosen "to minimise collateral damage," but the explosives hidden by IS were at least four times more powerful than the weapon itself.
Click to expand...

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-40051640
 
A

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
Sounds like they used a weapon designed to take out the snipers in a smaller section of the building that hit some ordinance/IEDs stored in the building and caused a larger explosion.

Don't know how they could have known there was a lot of ordinance in the building before delivering the strike called by the Iraqi army. Tragic loss of life nevertheless.
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
kulapik said:
So much for precision guided



I understand this is sarcasm, right?
Click to expand...

I think the highlighted portion should include the part where ISIS (intentionally?) put explosives around the civilian hostages (or vice versa), so that even a precision strike would result in their deaths.

There are a lot of things to blame the US for with heavy-handed foreign policy and indiscriminate bombing, but this is a case of ISIS saying "if we go, we're taking them with us".
 
C

Cranster

Banned
That will teach extremists not to target innocent civilians in suicide attacks.
No it won't, who the fuck approved this?!
 
Z

Ziltoidia 9

Member
The f'ing reason ISIS camped out in Mosul was to use human shields of innocent people.

How the hell can you bomb a city like that.
 
Z

Zolo

Member
And this created more than the two snipers killed.

US officials said the type of bomb was chosen "to minimise collateral damage," but the explosives hidden by IS were at least four times more powerful than the weapon itself.
Click to expand...

I don't know shit about weapons, but it seems using snipers to take them out or some other type of weapon would have been better? I'm also interested what the damage would have been estimated at without the explosives.
 
Kilau

Kilau

Member
Sho_Nuff82 said:
I think the highlighted portion should include the part where ISIS (intentionally?) put explosives around the civilian hostages (or vice versa), so that even a precision strike would result in their deaths.

There are a lot of things to blame the US for with heavy-handed foreign policy and indiscriminate bombing, but this is a case of ISIS saying "if we go, we're taking them with us".
Click to expand...

Folks only read the headline, doesn't matter.
 
P

Pai Pai Master

Banned
ahoyhoy said:
Sounds like they used a weapon designed to take out the snipers in a smaller section of the building that hit some ordinance/IEDs stored in the building and caused a larger explosion.

Don't know how they could have known there was a lot of ordinance in the building before delivering the strike called by the Iraqi army. Tragic loss of life nevertheless.
Click to expand...

This is the sad reality of it, that Urban warfare is too complex to avoid civilian casualties and that the US can basically exonerate themselves by saying they couldn't have known about what caused the complete destruction of the building. Not saying it justifies the horrible loss of life here, but that they have an excuse and no one will really care after this story runs its course.
 
F

Fenderputty

Banned
Sho_Nuff82 said:
I think the highlighted portion should include the part where ISIS (intentionally?) put explosives around the civilian hostages (or vice versa), so that even a precision strike would result in their deaths.

There are a lot of things to blame the US for with heavy-handed foreign policy and indiscriminate bombing, but this is a case of ISIS saying "if we go, we're taking them with us".
Click to expand...

That should give us pause if the target is two fucking snipers. We didn't blow up the entirety of ISIS leadership here.
 
A

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
Sho_Nuff82 said:
I think the highlighted portion should include the part where ISIS intentionally put explosives around the civilian hostages, so that even a precision strike would result in their deaths.

There are a lot of things to blame the US for with heavy-handed foreign policy and indiscriminate bombing, but this is a case of ISIS saying "if we go, we're taking them with us".
Click to expand...

Indeed. ISIS is making it harder and harder to dislodge them without serious civilian casualties, either during direct assaults or during prolonged sieges.

I have no idea how else we could handle situations like this one without significant civilian or army casualties.
 
S

SilentRob

Member
ahoyhoy said:
Sounds like they used a weapon designed to take out the snipers in a smaller section of the building that hit some ordinance/IEDs stored in the building and caused a larger explosion.

Don't know how they could have known there was a lot of ordinance in the building before delivering the strike called by the Iraqi army. Tragic loss of life nevertheless.
Click to expand...

You're saying it's fine they bombed a building with over 100 civilians in it because of 2 snipers because they couldn't expect it to actually hurt the civilians?

Yeah. Naw.

Sho_Nuff82 said:
I think the highlighted portion should include the part where ISIS (intentionally?) put explosives around the civilian hostages (or vice versa), so that even a precision strike would result in their deaths.

There are a lot of things to blame the US for with heavy-handed foreign policy and indiscriminate bombing, but this is a case of ISIS saying "if we go, we're taking them with us".
Click to expand...

The report specifically says that there are no sings of the civilians being held hostages or that they were forced into the building. They lived there and the explosives were put into the ground floor for storage.
 
A

Atomic Playboy

Member
ahoyhoy said:
Sounds like they used a weapon designed to take out the snipers in a smaller section of the building that hit some ordinance/IEDs stored in the building and caused a larger explosion.

Don't know how they could have known there was a lot of ordinance in the building before delivering the strike called by the Iraqi army. Tragic loss of life nevertheless.
Click to expand...

That's what we refer to as "a pretty good fucking reason not to drop a bomb on a place." "Sir, we don't know what's inside the building, it could lead to a catastrophic loss of civilian life." "Yeah, but TWO snipers. We may never get this opportunity again!"
 
Maximus P

Maximus P

Member
It seems the problem wasn't the US bomb itself but poor Intel.

However, the strike detonated explosives that militants had placed in the building
Click to expand...

Knowing what was in the building they were about to bomb should have been priority. Without that knowledge then they shouldn't have dropped anything on it.
 
A

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
Ziltoidia 9 said:
The f'ing reason ISIS camped out in Mosul was to use human shields of innocent people.

How the hell can you bomb a city like that.
Click to expand...

How else do you liberate the city? No army is going to want to invade on foot and risk so many of their own troops without air cover, and the longer they wait the more civilians suffer under the bootheel of ISIS.
 
K

Kin5290

Member
Yeah, it's really hard to blame this on the US, considering that there is no way that they could have known that ISIS was storing explosives around civilian refugees in that building.
 
T

Tovarisc

Member
radioactivez0r said:
The thread title and the content of the OP are different enough that it's interesting to see who didn't bother to even read the info.
Click to expand...

US air strike effectively killed all those civilians even if building collapse was caused by secondary explosion of ISIS's stockpile after US bomb set them off.
 
Ray Wonder

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
CentCom previously said the planes had acted at the request of Iraqi security forces, as coalition forces attempted to wrest control of the city from IS.

Those organising the strike "could not have predicted the presence of civilians in the structure prior to the engagement," it added.

US officials said the type of bomb was chosen "to minimise collateral damage," but the explosives hidden by IS were at least four times more powerful than the weapon itself.
Click to expand...

Some parts I find interesting. Very tragic nonetheless..
 
M

Maniel

Banned
I am absolutely disgusted with this news. Hopefully ISIS is eliminated soon for the sake of the people of Mosul and other ISIS controlled territories.
 
H

Hazzuh

Member
"It's not the USA's fault, they are just happy using tactics which give you no way of knowing if you will accidentally kill 100+ civilians" isn't really a good defence either guys..
 
ThatStupidLion

ThatStupidLion

Member
really upsetting. living on battlefields among the enemy is such an awful way to have to go through life. really hope these cilvilians can escape the hell they are in someday

this thread is going to do nothing but incite knee-jerk reactions and drive-bys though
 
U

UrbanRats

Member
radioactivez0r said:
The thread title and the content of the OP are different enough that it's interesting to see who didn't bother to even read the info.
Click to expand...
Nah, i read the whole article and was still appalled.
I guess ww should be relieved they didnt intentionally kill 100+ civilians, but i think reactions of shock are in order.
 
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