Votel said the investigation will look at what Islamic State militants did to contribute to the civilian deaths in the March 17 strike.
Advertisement
He said militants are “smuggling civilians so we won’t see them” into buildings and then attempting to draw an attack.
The more formal investigation announcement was first mentioned by Gen. Joseph Votel during his Wednesday testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.
“The best way to liberate Mosul is to fight the Islamic State inside the city”, one military officer said. “We are strongly hopeful that the liberation of Mosul will soon be completed”, Guterres said alongside Abadi, according to a copy of his remarks.
Interviews with survivors of the March 17 attack conducted by the group indicate that dozens of families had taken refuge inside the building in the days before the strike, driven from other areas of the city by the fighting.
“In an environment where Daesh kills civilians, its marveling to see the press to be so interested in civilians who died in USA attacks”, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend told reporters at the Pentagon.
General Votel, the head of US Central Command, said there had been no change in the rules of engagement.
Local officials and eyewitnesses say as many as 240 people may have been killed in the Al-Jadida district when a huge blast caused a building to collapse.
Iraqi troops shot down at least one suspected Islamic State drone.
Scrocca said the December adjustment allowed for specific US field officers, in conjunction with their Iraqi counterparts, to direct dynamic airstrikes – ones that are in immediate reaction to an ongoing fight or direct threat.
Video: More civilian casualties in Mosul? The White House’s official readout of the call did say the President “praised the remarkable bravery and sacrifices of the Iraqi people in our shared fight against terrorism”.
“It is very possible that [Isis] blew up that building to blame it on the coalition in order to cause a delay in the offensive into Mosul and cause a delay in the use of coalition air strikes”, United States army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley echoed in a visit to Baghdad, admitting that “It is possible the coalition air strike did it”.
During that pause, the strike authority was delegated in order to have a quicker response to ISIS threats, Scrocca said.
Officials and witnesses say that airstrikes during the operation to take the western part of the city, which started last month, have also taken a devastating toll on civilians who have remained.
In the claim, IS warns Iraqi Shiites that the “flame of the battle” in Mosul will come to them in the cities of Baghdad, Karbala, and Najaf.
Advertisement
Rescue teams work on the debris where more than 200 people were believed killed in Mosul last week.
