US Aircraft Mistakenly Striks Iraqi Forces

Carter however did not provide details about the airstrike, but said the USA was also investigating and would work with Iraqis.

“Despite coordination with the Iraqi security forces on the ground, initial reports indicate the possibility one of the strikes resulted in the death of Iraqi soldiers”, the statement said.

Iraq’s attempts to regain territories from ISIL have been backed by a number of countries including Iran, the USA, and several European states.

The airstrike was “a mistake that involved both sides”, Carter said.

“These kind of things can happen when you are fighting side by side as we are”, Carter told reporters aboard the Kearsarge, an amphibious assault ship deployed in the Persian Gulf, “on a dynamic battlefield”. He said Iraq had begun an investigation and that the “wrongdoer would be punished according to Iraqi law”.

A senior USA defense official said there was fog in that area and that weather may have played a role in the incident. “It’s tragic. I expressed our condolences, but he and I both recognize things like this can happen in war”.

The Iraqi leader, who heads a fractured government that remains deeply suspicious of USA intentions, temporarily declined Carter’s offer of advisers and close air support with Apache helicopters to help recapture Ramadi from Islamic State. He added that during the call, both he and Abadi recognized that “things like this can happen in war”.

The Pentagon chief did not say how many soldiers died in the attack, but Iraqi officials put the toll at 10 dead.

“That’s the information I have now”, he told reporters while on a trip to the Middle East.

The incident took place near the city of Fallujah, which is held by Islamic State.

Iraqi media reported that an Iraqi force was mistakenly bombarded by the coalition jets during a clash with ISIS fighters south of Fallujah on Friday.