CNN: After previously slamming a June report by Amnesty International, the US-led military coalition fighting ISIS is now acknowledging findings by the human rights group that 77 civilians were in fact killed during airstrikes conducted in Raqqa, Syria, last summer.
An investigation prompted by Amnesty International’s research revealed that the 77 civilians were killed in five separate incidents between June and October 2017, according to a coalition casualty report released on July 26.
“The investigation assessed that although all feasible precautions were taken and the decision to strike complied with the law of armed conflict, unintended civilian casualties regrettably occurred,” the coalition report stated.
“Throughout our air and ground campaigns, we have used deliberate targeting and strike processes to minimize the impact of our operations on civilian populations and infrastructure. Our assessments of civilian casualties are transparent, and we hold ourselves accountable through regularly published strike press releases and civilian casualty reports,” the report said.