U.S. military confirms airstrike on Mosul area 'corresponding' to reports of civilian casualties

The U.S military confirmedon Saturday that U.S. warplanes had hit an Islamic State-heldarea of the besieged Iraqi city of Mosul where residents andofficials say dozens of civilians have been killed as result ofan airstrike.

The strike occurred on March 17, but what exactly happenedis still unclear as ISIS militants fight to defend the areas ofthe city they still control.Reports have indicated that the airstrikesallegedly killed anywhere from 100 to 200 civilians in western Mosul, where U.S.-backed government troops are fighting ISIS.

Iraqi government forces paused in their push to recapturewestern Mosul on Saturday because of the high rate of civiliancasualties, a security forces spokesman said, a move apparentlymotivated by the incident.

The United Nations also expressed its profound concern,saying it was "stunned by this terrible loss of life."

Initial reports from residents and Iraqi officials in thepast week said dozens of people had been killed or wounded in
Mosul's al-Jadidah district after airstrikes by Iraqi orU.S.-led coalition forces.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military MiddleEast operations, said on Saturday that a review had determinedthat U.S.-led coalition aircraft had struck Islamic Statefighters and equipment "at the location corresponding toallegations of civilian casualties."

It was investigating to determine the facts and the validityof reports of civilian casualties, it said.

Iraqi VP blames coalition, Federal Police

Reports on the numbers of civilian dead and wounded havevaried, but Civil Defence chief Brigadier Mohammed al-Jawari toldreporters on Thursday that rescue teams had recovered 40 bodiesfrom collapsed buildings. Many others lay buried in therubble.

The exact cause of the collapses was not clear but a localpolitician and two residents said the airstrikes may have detonated an ISIS truck filled with explosives, destroyingbuildings in the heavily populated area.

In tweets published on his official account, speaker of the Iraqi parliamentSalim al-Jabouri said "we realize the huge responsibility theliberating forces shoulder" and call on them to "spare no effortto save the civilians."

• U.S. coalition investigating reports of deadlyMosulairstrike

In a statement issued on his website, Vice President Osamaal-Nujaifi, himself from Mosul, described the incident as a
"humanitarian catastrophe," blaming the U.S.-led coalitionairstrikes and excessive use of force by militarized Federal Policeforces. Al-Nujaifi put the number of civilians killed at"hundreds."

He called for an emergency session of parliament and an immediateinvestigation into the incident.

600Kcivilians still in westernMosul

Up to 600,000 civilians are still believed to remain inISIS-held areas of Mosul, complicating the government offensive
tactically but also politically as the Shia Muslim-ledgovernment seeks to avoid alienating people in the mainly Sunni
city.

Residents escaping besieged western Mosul have told of Iraqiand U.S.-led coalition airstrikes demolishing buildings andkilling civilians in several cases.

The insurgents have also used civilians as human shields andopened fire on them as they try to escape ISIS-heldneighbourhoods, fleeing residents said.

• Life under ISIS:Mosulresidents reflect on a brutal occupation

"The recent high death toll among civilians inside the OldCity forced us to halt operations to review our plans," aFederal Police spokesman said on Saturday. "It's a time forweighing new offensive plans and tactics. No combat operationsare to go on."

The U.S.-backed offensive to drive the group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria out ofMosul, now in its sixth month, has recaptured the entire easternside of Mosul and about half of the west.

But advances have stuttered in the last two weeks asfighting enters the narrow alleys of the Old City, home to theal-Nuri mosque where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadideclared a caliphate spanning large areas of Iraq and Syria in2014.

"We need to make sure that taking out [ISIS]from the Old City will not cost unwanted high casualties amongcivilians. We need surgical accurate operations to targetterrorists without causing collateral damage among residents,"the Federal Police spokesman said.

A U.S. deputy commanding general for the coalition toldReuters on Friday that the solution could lie in a change oftactics. The Iraqi military is assessing opening up anotherfront and isolating the Old City, where the militants have putup fierce resistance, U.S. Army Brigadier General JohnRichardson said.

Fleeing residents have described grim living conditionsinside the ISIS-held parts of Mosul, saying there was no running water orelectricity and no food coming in.

But families are streaming out of the northern city, Iraq'ssecond largest, in their thousands each day, headed for cold,crowded camps or to stay with relatives. Hunger and fighting aremaking life unbearable inside.

The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights said that since thecampaign on western Mosul began on Feb. 19, unconfirmed reportssaid nearly 700 civilians had been killed by government andcoalition airstrikes or Islamic State actions.

• U.S. urges moresupport from coalition partners in fight against ISIS

The militants have used car bombs, snipers and mortar fireto counter the offensive. They have also stationed themselves inhomes belonging to Mosul residents to fire at Iraqi troops,often drawing air or artillery strikes that have killedcivilians.

The United Nations'Grande said civilians were at extremerisk as the fighting in Mosul intensified and all sides must todo their utmost to avoid such casualties.

"International humanitarian law is clear. Parties to theconflict all parties are obliged to do everything possibleto protect civilians. This means that combatants cannot usepeople as human shields and cannot imperil lives through indiscriminate use of fire-power," she said in a statement.