WASHINGTON, (MILLAT ONLINE/APP/AFP) – Despite
using state-of-the-art weaponry, the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq appears unable to avoid civilian casualties as it battles the jihadists in close urban
combat.
The coalition is backing Iraqi forces in the battle to push out IS
from west Mosul, a maze of narrow and densely populated lanes in which residents must hunker down in a bid to avoid bombs and bullets.
The commander of the US-led forces admitted this week that they
“probably had a role” in casualties caused by an explosion on March 17, which local sources said left dozens of non-combatants dead.
But the US military has also repeatedly denounced what they call the
jihadists’ use of civilians as human shields — and now accuses them of trying to provoke the coalition into making deadly blunders.
The anti-IS forces have the most up-to-date technology for warfare,
enabling GPS and laser-guided bombs, video surveillance by drone and online
interception of jihadist activity.
Yet their opponents are “smuggling civilians so we won’t see them and
trying to bait the coalition to attack,” said US Colonel Joe Scrocca, a
spokesman for the Baghdad-based coalition, on Thursday.
He said they had for the first time on Wednesday caught jihadists on
video who “forced civilians into a building, killing one who resisted, and then used this building against the CTS (Iraqi counter-terrorist forces).”