The US-led coalition fighting confirmed on 25 May that over 100 civilians were killed when it bombed a building in the Iraqi city of Mosul on 17 March, but blamed the Islamic State fighters who had rigged it with explosives and were using it as a sniper position.
Brigadier General Matthew Isler, the investigating officer, said the building in Al-Jadidah district was a reinforced two-storey cement structure with a basement. Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) personnel had it under surveillance for over two days observed Islamic State snipers using the building, but had not seen any civilians enter or leave.
The coalition also saw no evidence that civilians were using the building, although Brig Gen Isler noted that its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities were limited for the proceeding two days due to bad weather conditions.
