US Confirms Strike Accidentally Killed Iraqi Soldiers
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The US military said it is investigating an American airstrike that may have inadvertently killed dozens of Iraqi soldiers near the city of Fallujah.
In a brief statement, the US military headquarters in charge of the war effort in Syria and Iraq said one of several airstrikes it reportedly conducted on Friday against ISIL targets may have resulted in the death of Iraqi soldiers.
It did not say how many may have been killed, but other officials said the Iraqis initially reported that 10 may have died, The Guardian reported on Friday.
However, a senior Iraqi official told Sputnik news agency that the US strike killed at least 20 soldiers and injured more than 30.
“The 55th brigade (of the Iraqi Army) was hit by the US aviation. More than 20 soldiers were killed and over 30 servicemen were wounded as a result of the airstrike,” Hakim al-Zamili, head of the Iraqi Parliament’s Security and Defense Committee, said.
According to Iraqi officials, the incident occurred as Iraqi ground forces were on the verge of liberating an area in the south of Fallujah from terrorists.
