US military confirms 8 civilian deaths in 2015 airstrikes

Eight civilians were killed and three others injured in five US-led coalition airstrikes against Daesh militants last year in Iraq and Syria, ABC News reported on Friday.

Investigations by the US military's Central Command said that the strikes complied with the laws on armed conflict and that appropriate precautions were taken. The latest findings increase the number of US-acknowledged civilian casualties to 14 dead and five injured since the airstrikes began in 2014.

Independent monitoring groups and activists have repeatedly said that coalition and other airstrikes have killed hundreds of civilians. Those complaints have escalated since Russian airstrikes began in Syria, with US officials saying that Moscow's so-called dumb bombs were not as precise as coalition strikes and were killing citizens.

"We take extraordinary precautions to reduce the possibility of civilian casualties, but unfortunately in war, these things will happen," US Army Col. Steve Warren, a military spokesman in Iraq said. "In the few moments that the weapon is in the air, between aircraft and target, maybe a motorcycle will drive up or a car will drive up or someone will emerge that had previously been unseen and then tragedy happens."

In at least three of the five incidents reported Friday, the military said that civilians moved into the target zone after the coalition aircraft fired its weapon.

Source: MENA