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20+ Iraqi soldiers killed, 30 injured after US airstrike – Iraqi MP to Sputnik
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photo © Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters
RT,
18
December, 2015
A
least 20 Iraqi soldiers have been killed and 30 injured in an
airstrike carried out by the US military, Hakim al-Zamili, head of
the Iraqi Parliament’s Security and Defense Committee, told Sputnik
news agency.
“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,” Zamili
said.
The
incident occurred near the town of Al-Naimiya in the Fallujah
province after the Iraqi troops had freed “a
strategically important area” from
the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants, he dded.
According
to the official, who visited the site of the attack and personally
talked to commanders and soldiers of the 55th brigade, the death toll
may well rise, as many Iraqi soldiers were heavily injured.
RT
BREAKING: 4 US-led coalition jets seen in Syria day govt troops attacked - Russian MoD http://on.rt.com/6ywr
“The
Americans carry out airstrikes with 100% precision… How could have
they mistaken by kilometers?” he
wondered.
Zamili
said “it’s
very dangerous” that
the Iraqi forces are being hit by airstrikes and that the country
“won’t
allow it” to
happen again.
The
MP called upon the Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider Al-Abadi, to carry
out an immediate investigation into the airstrike.
According
to the official, Iraq is going to go to court over the incident
as “this
crime mustn’t go unpunished.”
However,
the Iraqi Army’s Command Centre in Baghdad, the capital, said the
air the strike had caused fewer casualties and happened due to
miscommunication and bad weather.
“We
[Iraqi Forces Command] had demanded aerial support from the
international coalition air force. The airstrike was launched without
an update on the advance of the Iraqi forces and the coalition forces
were unable to distinguish between the fighters on the ground due to
bad weather,” it
said.
According
to the Iraqi military, one Iraqi army commander was killed and nine
servicemen were injured in the airstrike.
A
Pentagon representative told RIA Novosti they are looking into the
report.
Earlier,
the Russian Defense Ministry said four Western coalition warplanes
had been spotted over the Deir ez-Zor area in Syria on December 6,
when a Syrian Army camp came under attack.
An
airstrike on a field camp of the 168th Brigade of the 7th Division of
the Syrian Army left four servicemen dead and 12 injured. It also
destroyed three APCs and four vehicles bearing 12.7mm heavy machine
guns.
The
information about two pairs of warplanes, members of the US-led
international anti-ISIS coalition, which were operating in the Deir
ez-Zor area on the day of the attack, was announced by Russian
Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
“If
they were not involved in that airstrike, than why are the Pentagon’s
representatives, as leaders of the anti-ISIS coalition, hushing up
the presence of their allies’ aircraft in the Deir ez-Zor region on
December 6? Isn’t it because the [anti-ISIS] coalition air force
gets all the information on Islamic State targets in Syria from the
Pentagon?” he
asked.
The
US has been bombing IS positions in Iraq since August 2014. However,
according to Iraq's former PM Nouri al-Maliki, this campaign has
been "unbelievably" ineffective
in fighting the terror group.
“It's
unbelievable and unacceptable that more than 60 nations comprising
this coalition that have the most modern aircraft and weapons at
their disposal have been conducting their campaign in Iraq for 14
months and IS still remains in the country,” he
told RT's Arabic-language sister-channel Rusiya Al-Yaum in November.
VIDEO emerges purporting to show deadly US airstrike against Iraqi forces
An
unverified video, which allegedly shows a deadly air-strike by the US
Air Force against Iraqi government troops, has emerged.
The
unconfirmed footage was obtained from a local source in Iraq by RT’s
Ruptly video agency.
A
high-ranking Iraqi MP told Sputnik news agency earlier that over 30
Iraqi soldiers had been killed and 20 injured in an air-strike
carried out by the US military.
The
incident allegedly occurred near the town of Al-Naimiya in the
Fallujah province after the Iraqi troops freed “a
strategically important area”
from the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants, Hakim
al-Zamili, head of the Iraqi Parliament’s Security and Defense
Committee, said.
However,
Iraqi Army's Command Centre in capital Baghdad, said that air the
strike caused fewer casualties and happened due to miscommunication
and bad weather.
“We
[Iraqi Forces Command] had demanded aerial support from the
international coalition air force. The airstrike was launched without
an update on the advance of the Iraqi forces and the coalition forces
were unable to distinguish between the fighters on the ground due to
bad weather,” it
said.
According
to Iraqi military, one Iraqi army commander was killed and nine other
servicemen injured in the airstrike.
A
Pentagon representative told RIA Novosti they are looking into the
report.
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