US military concealed 2019 airstrike in Syria that killed dozens of civilians
14/11/2021 10:02 AM
MOSCOW, Nov 14 -- The US military has been concealing an airstrike that killed dozens of civilians during the 2019 battle of Baghuz in Syria and is among the most devastating civilian casualty incidents in the fight against the Islamic State, reported Sputnik.
The incident took place on March 18, 2019, resulting in up to 80 people being killed. The strike is said to have been called in by Task Force 9, a secret US special operations unit that was responsible for ground operations in Syria.
After the personnel at the US Combined Air Operations Center saw the attack via the live drone footage, an Air Force intelligence officer contacted an Air Force lawyer, who brought the matter to his superiors, saying that an independent investigation was in order.
According to The New York Times report on Saturday, an investigation into the incident never took place and that the military tried to conceal the strike. So much so that all mentions of the Baghuz incident were edited out from a recently released report by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General was working on the civilian casualties reporting process.
When the newspaper sent its findings to the US Central Command, it admitted that the incident had taken place but stated that 16 militants and four civilians had been killed, while the status of the other 60 people was unclear since the Islamic State's women and children occasionally fight as well.
-- BERNAMA
How the U.S. Hid an Airstrike That Killed Dozens of Civilians in Syria
The military never conducted an independent investigation into a 2019 bombing on the last bastion of the Islamic State, despite concerns about a secretive commando force.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/13/us/us-airstrikes-civilian-deaths.html
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