ISIS Continues Getting Pummeled, but Trapped Civilians are Being Killed in the Airstrikes

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Air strikes in Mosul targeting ISIS fighters are killing civilians, a UN spokeswoman said.

While the UN said it’s hard to verify the casualty numbers, monitoring group Airwars said that since the airstrikes began on Oct. 17, between 294 and 350 civilians have been killed.

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“We have been receiving quite a lot of reports of civilian casualties caused by air strikes,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN human rights office, during a news briefing in Geneva, according to Reuters.

The reports seem credible, Shamdasani said, adding that “it is clear” that civilians are being killed.

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In an airstrike on Jan. 14 targeting a local ISIS leader in western Mosul, both the targeted home and the one adjacent to it collapsed in the attack, Business Insider reported. Nineteen people were killed and 11 wounded.

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Since October, there have been four incidents of coalition-caused strikes in Mosul that have caused at least 20 civilian deaths, according to Airwars.

The UN has previously confirmed that ISIS was using thousands of civilians – including women and children – as “human shields” in Mosul.

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The Iraqi government has taken complete control of eastern Mosul. Forces are preparing to push past the Tigris river into the city’s western side.

The UN is “racing” to prepare aid for civilians ahead of the battle for the west. Shamdasani said the military should take all possible steps to avoid civilian casualties.

“It needs to be weighed up whether the advantage that can be offered by the military attack outweighs the number of civilian casualties that are likely to be caused,” Shamdasani said, according to Reuters.

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Military officials told Airwars that the U.S.-led coalition has deployed more than 9,500 munitions in 419 airstrikes.

A UN official suggested that civilians could make up half of the fatalities resulting from the combat in Mosul. ISIS fighters have killed civilians using IEDs, suicide bombs and snipers, the official said.

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