At Least 14 Dead in ISIL Truck Bomb at Baghdad Checkpoint

The top US commander in Baghdad, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, has ordered a formal investigation into the Mosul strike on March 17 which is set to include strikes days before and after the coalition bombing that likely killed upwards of 100 civilians.

In February, Iraqi ground forces – backed by USA -led coalition air power – began fresh operations aimed at ousting Daesh militants from western Mosul, the terrorist group’s last bastion in northern Iraq.

Iraqi civil defense officials are saying the attack targeted a building in Mosul’s al-Jadida neighborhood where many people were crowded in a basement; the remains of more than 100 had been recovered by Sunday.

With the battle entering the densely populated areas of western Mosul, civilian casualties are becoming more of a risk.

“What you see now is not the use of civilians of human shields, now it is something much more sinister”, Scrocca said.

USA officials have said that an increase in civilian casualties was to be expected as the war against the insurgents entered its deadliest phase.

Votel said the investigation will look at what Islamic State militants did to contribute to the civilian deaths in the March 17 strike.

Townsend described the fighting as “the most significant urban combat to take place since World War II”. That, coupled with initial inquiries done by USA technical experts who visited the scene, led him to say: “My initial assessment is that we probably had a role in these casualties”.

The fight to take back Mosul began in October, backed by the US -led global coalition.

Iraq’s military – backed by USA airstrikes and special operations forces – is liberating the city of one million from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Three policemen are among the dead while the rest were civilians.

“We are concerned about the pattern of civilian casualties which has been happening since the start of the operation [on October 17]”, Donatella Rovera, AI’s senior crisis response adviser who carried out field investigations in Mosul, told RT.

Along with civilian casualties, Iraqi troops have suffered significant losses, with almost 300 men killed since the west Mosul pushback began over a month ago.

Eyewitnesses have said a strike may have hit a massive truck bomb parked by the building.

Interviews with survivors of the March 17 attack conducted by the group indicate that dozens of families had taken refuge inside the building in the days before the strike, driven from other areas of the city by the fighting.

Amnesty International on Tuesday said the rising death toll suggested the USA -led coalition wasn’t taking adequate precautions as it helps Iraqi forces try to retake the city.

It’s hard to draw a direct cause and effect, but there’s been a staggering increase this month in civilian casualties linked to US-led coalition airstrikes on ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria.

We acknowledge our responsibility to operate at a higher standard.