Top US commander calls Mosul civilian deaths 'tragedy' as strikes paused

The top commander for US military forces in the Middle East on Sunday called recent civilian deaths in the Iraqi city of Mosul a "terrible tragedy" but stopped short of taking responsibility.

Reports by witnesses and local officials that as many as 200 bodies had been pulled from a collapsed building after a coalition strike last week targeted IS militants and equipment in al Jadida district area.

"We are investigating the incident to determine exactly what happened and will continue to take extraordinary measures to avoid harming civilians," General Joseph Votel, who heads the US Central Command (Centcom), said in a statement.

Iraqi's military said on Sunday 61 bodies were recovered from a collapsed building that Islamic State (IS) had boobytrapped in west Mosul, but said there was no sign it had been hit by a coalition strike although a large vehicle bomb was discovered nearby.

The Pentagon said on Monday it was not loosening its rules of engagement in the fight against Islamic State but that resources to investigate claims were limited.

The US military does not intend to change the way it carries out strikes, even as the fighting in Mosul enters more densely populated areas, Colonel John Thomas, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, told reporters.

"General Votel is not looking into changing the way we operate other than to say our processes are good and we want to make sure we live by those processes," Thomas said.

Meanwhile, thousands of Mosul residents have fled the areas held by IS, in fear of US-led air strikes and fierce fighting by Iraqi ground troops.

What happened on 17 March remains unclear and details are difficult to confirm as Iraqi forces battle with IS to recapture the densely populated parts of the western half of Mosul, the militant group's last stronghold in Iraq.

Wilson Fache, a freelance reporter based in Iraq, quoted an officer as saying "Western" journalists were currently being prohibited from entering areas held by the Iraqi military:

The incident highlights the complexity of fighting in west Mosul, where militants hide among civilians, using families as shields and putting at risk as many as half a million people still caught in IS-held areas.

Centcom 'investigating' deaths

The US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces on Saturday said it carried out a strike on IS militants and equipment in the area of the reported deaths, but it was still investigating. It did not give figures for any casualties or details on targets.

"An initial review of strike data ... indicates that, at the request of the Iraqi security forces, the coalition struck (IS) fighters and equipment, March 17, in west Mosul at the location corresponding to allegations of civilian casualties," it said in a statement.

Centcom said that it had opened an investigation "to determine the facts surrounding this strike and the validity of the allegation of civilian casualties".

The Iraqi military command said witnesses had told troops that the building was boobytrapped and militants had forced residents inside basements to use them as human shields. IS militants had also fired on troops from houses, it said.

A coalition air strike had hit the area, but a military team had not found any sign the collapsed building had been hit.

"A team of military experts from field commanders checked the building where the media reported that the house was completely destroyed. All walls were booby-trapped and there is no hole that indicates an air strike," it said. "Sixty-one bodies were evacuated," the statement said.

Its figures were lower than those given by other local officials. A local municipal official said on Saturday 240 bodies had been pulled from the rubble. A local lawmaker and two witnesses say a coalition air strike may have targeted a large truck bomb, triggering a blast that collapsed buildings.

A local lawmaker and two witnesses say a coalition air strike may have targeted a large truck bomb, triggering a blast that collapsed buildings.

Ghazwan al-Dawoodi, head of local Nineveh governate human rights council, said his team had made a field visit and said 173 people were killed after militants forced them into a bunker and opened fire on gunships to prompt an air strike.

Rules loosened on strikes

Reports have filtered out that the attack could potentially have stemmed from looser rules of engagement brought in by the new Trump administration in the White House, also citing a rise in civilian death by US air strikes elsewhere.

Major General Maan al-Saadi, speaking to the New York Times, said it had become much easier to call in air strikes in Mosul, while the Obama administration had frustrated Iraqi officers by refusing air strike requests due to the risk of civilian deaths.

Chris Woods, the director of the Airwars monitoring group, told the paper that in March alone the number of reported civilian deaths had risen to 1,058 compared with 465 in December, the last month of the Obama presidency.

“We don’t know whether that’s a reflection of the increased tempo of the campaign or whether it reflects changes in the rules of engagement,” he said, adding, however, that the recent rise "does suggest something has shifted".

In its sixth months, the battle to recapture Mosul is now focused on the Old City and the al-Nuri mosque, where the IS leader declared his self-proclaimed caliphate three years ago after the militant group swept through parts of Iraq and Syria.

Iraqi forces have retaken the east of  Mosul and half of the west across the Tigris River that divides Iraq's second city. Thousands of people are still fleeing each day to escape fighting and increasingly difficult conditions inside.

Snipers targeting IS

On Saturday, Iraqi forces said they had paused their advance in western Mosul while they investigated the reports of civilian casualties. However, the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen said that the assault was continuing:

It was reported on Sunday that Iraq had deployed snipers to target IS using civilians as human shields.

IS "began to use citizens as human shields, and we are trying to target them with. ... snipers to eliminate them," Joint Operations Command spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told AFP.

Iraqi forces are relying on "light and medium weapons, among them sniper [rifles], to hunt for Daesh [IS] members" located among civilians, he said.

Unguided rockets

However, Iraqi forces have also frequently fired mortar rounds and unguided rockets during the battle for west Mosul - weapons that pose a much greater risk to residents of areas where fighting is taking place.

Rasool accused IS of gathering civilians together and then blowing up explosives-rigged vehicles nearby to make it look like "Iraqi forces ... are targeting innocent civilians".

Following the raids, the United Nations called on parties to the conflict to do "everything possible" to protect civilians in Mosul.

"International humanitarian law is clear. Parties to the conflict - all parties - are obliged to do everything possible to protect civilians. This means that combatants cannot use people as human shields and cannot imperil lives through indiscriminate use of fire-power," said Lise Grande, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Iraq.

According to Iraqi authorities, more than 200,000 people have fled west Mosul since the operation to retake the area was launched on 19 February.

The UN has said that around 600,000 are still present inside the city.