It said it had completed 31 civilian casualty allegation report investigations during March and acknowledged that it had unintentionally killed an additional 34 civilians in eleven credible incidents.
From month-to-month, CJTF-OIR carries over a large backlog of cases that it still has yet to fully investigate. It currently has 122 open cases, including three that were previously closed but reopened because of new information.
The United States, which carries out the vast majority of strikes, relaxed its rules of engagement for aircraft conducting strikes against IS several years ago. Critics say that this has contributed to avoidable civilian casualties.
In its statement, the Coalition said that it works “diligently to be precise during the planning and execution of airstrikes to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.”
The latest release comes shortly after the release of a damning report by Amnesty International and Airwars alleging that the Coalition killed 1,600 civilians during the military campaign against IS in the Syrian city of Raqqa.
The Coalition currently only acknowledges a tenth of that number.
In terms of the eleven credible cases that were examined in March, the largest loss of civilian life occurred on July 15, 2017, when thirteen civilians were killed during an airstrike against IS fighting positions near the Hospital of Modern Medicine in al Badou in Syria’s Raqqa province.
All of the eleven incidents occurred in Syria, mostly in Raqqa or other parts of the Middle Euphrates Valley.
During its investigation, CJTF-OIR found that nineteen reports were not credible and one was a duplicate of a report that is still waiting for a full investigation.
In March, it acknowledged that it had unintentionally injured two people in the one report it had completed during February.
Reporter's code: 50101