Civilian casualties in al-Qaim airstrikes reaches 230
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) The casualty toll from a Wednesday airstrike on Anbar’s town of al-Qaem has reached 230, according to a local official.
The catastrophic strike, which reportedly caused the death of whole families at a market area, presumably by mistake, has drawn condemnation by Iraqi politicians who called for an investigation to identify the military party to which the jets belonged.
US-led international air forces and Iraqi air forces have been launching airstrikes targeting locations held by Islamic State militants across Iraq since last October, including Anbar.
Iraqi military officials remain mum on the identity of the fighter jets, and a spokesperson of the US-led coalition denied links to the strike.
But on Thursday, Anbar council member, Farhan al-Ebeidi, said bluntly that “Iraqi army fighter jets” were behind the strike, putting the toll at 130 deaths and 100 injuries.
“It is impossible to accurately figure out what is going on in the precinct since Daesh (ISIS) have cut all means of communication in the western regions of the province,” Ebeidi was quoted as saying by AlMada Press. He added that what he described as the “dangerous humanitarian conditions” at those regions requires to “clear them from ISIS militants more rapidly and to stop haphazard strikes.”
Also on Wednesday, parliament speaker Salim al-Jabbouri, and Anbar council spokesperson Eid Ammas, held the Iraqi government fully responsible for the calamity.
Combined arms actions leave 7 ISIS Bad Guys dead
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Seven Islamic State (ISIS) members were killed Thursday by international coalition airstrikes and gunmen in two separate incidents in the town of al-Qaem, Anbar.
The army’s Anbar Operations commander, Maj. Gen. Ismail al-Mahalawi, said three ISIS militants were killed south of Qaem in an airstrike by US-led international coalition jets, which also destroyed two heavy gun-supplied vehicles.
Mahlawi said his forces remain in waiting for orders to commence operations targeting to clear ISIS’s last strongholds in western Anbar: Qaem, Annah and Rawa.
The airstrike in Qaem comes hours after Iraqi fighter jets mistakenly killed 130 civilians in a marketplace in the town on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a security source told AlMada Press that unknown gunmen killed four ISIS militants in central Qaem. The attackers, using light weapons, assaulted a gathering of ISIS members near the taxation department, killing four, seizing their equipment, raising the Iraqi flag and fleeing to an unknown destination.
“Group members prevented civilians from approaching the attack’s scene and went on to search for the perpetrators,” the source said, on condition of anonymity. “The past few days have seen armed attacks by unknown elements against ISIS in the western regions, including Qem, Annah and Rawa, leaving tens of group deaths”.