Washington // An air strike conducted by the US-led coalition in Iraq “most likely” killed around 20 pro-government Sunni tribal fighters south of Mosul on Wednesday, a senior defence official said.
“This most likely was from a coalition air strike. Right now, we are still getting information,” the official said.
Earlier, an Iraqi commander and a minister said the strike had killed 21 fighters in the raid that happened around 1am local time on Wednesday east of the town of Qayyarah, which was recaptured from ISIL in August.
The US defence official said the strike was probably “what we unfortunately call a blue-on-green incident,” meaning a case of mistaken identity where a coalition force inadvertently struck partners on the ground.
“We are looking into it aggressively,” the official said.
Sheikh Nazhan Sakhr Al Lihaybi, the commander of the fighters who were killed, said they had succeeded in repelling an attack by ISIL militants in the area, and were bombed when they gathered after the end of the fighting.
Agriculture minister Falah Hassan Zaidan, whose tribe lives in the Qayyarah area, also said that 21 tribal fighters were killed and confirmed the timing of the strike.
Mr Al Lihaybi said the air raid also wounded five fighters.
The US-led coalition has been carrying out strikes against ISIL in Iraq since 2014, and the country’s military also targets the extremists with warplanes and helicopters.
The deadly strike comes as Iraqi forces prepare for a final push to retake Mosul, the last ISIL-held city in the country.
The Mosul operation — which Western officials have indicated could start this month — will involve a coalition of sometimes rival Iraqi forces including soldiers, police, Kurdish peshmerga fighters, and both Sunni and Shiite militiamen.
After it is launched, these forces will have to fight their way through ISIL-held territory before surrounding the city and then launching an assault to retake it.
The issue of which forces will actually enter the city is a contentious one, and there has been no public announcement of the roles the various forces will play.
*Agence France-Presse