Pentagon responds to criticism over civilian deaths in Mosul blast

The Pentagon on Thursday said it would soon release a video showing Daesh militants herding civilians into a building in the Iraqi city of Mosul and then firing from it, the US military’s latest response to an outcry over a separate explosion thought to have killed scores of civilians.

The US military has acknowledged that the US-led coalition probably had a role in the 17 March explosion, but said Daesh also could be to blame.

Local officials and eyewitnesses have said as many as 240 people may have died in the Al-Jadida district when a blast made a building collapse, burying families inside.

Rights group Amnesty International and Pope Francis have both called for better protection for civilians caught in war zones in Iraq.

Read: Dozens of Mosul civilians killed by overnight US, Iraq airstrikes

The Pentagon does not regularly release images or videos from operations. However, it has had to do so once already this month after it denied striking a mosque in Syria, releasing an aerial image to show the mosque was intact. That incident is under investigation.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting Daesh told reporters on Thursday he was working to declassify a video showing militants hiding civilians in a building in west Mosul to “bait the coalition to attack.”

“What was see now is not the use of civilians as human shields … For the first time we caught this on video yesterday as armed ISIS [Daesh] fighters forced civilians into a building, killing one who resisted and then used that building as a fighting position against the (Counter Terrorism Service),” Colonel Joseph Scrocca said. He was using an acronym for Daesh.

Scrocca said Daesh tactics have led to adjustments in procedures, adding that about 1,000 Daesh fighters remained in west Mosul, but did not give details on these changes. He added than an in-depth investigation into the strikes had been opened on 17 March.

Read: 4,000 Iraq civilians killed in west Mosul offensive

On Tuesday, Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, the senior US commander in Iraq, told reporters by teleconference it was “a little disappointing” that questions during the briefing focused on US-led air strikes.

“ISIS [Daesh] is slaughtering Iraqis and Syrians on a daily basis. ISIS [Daesh] is cutting off heads. ISIS [Daesh] is shooting people,” he said.

Amnesty International has said the high civilian toll in Mosul suggests US-led coalition forces have failed to take adequate precautions to prevent civilian deaths.

Pope Francis on Wednesday said it was “imperative and urgent” to protect civilians in Iraq.

At his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said he was “concerned about civilian populations trapped in the neighborhoods of western Mosul”.