MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The number of civilians killed by the US-led coalition's airstrikes against Daesh in Iraq is 31 times higher than it claims, The New York Times reported, citing its investigative report.
According to the international coalition's data, 89 of its more than 14,000 airstrikes, or one in every 157 strikes, resulted in civilian deaths in Iraq. However, the journalistic investigation, dubbed The Uncounted, revealed that the ratio of airstrikes carried out by the coalition's aircraft resulting in civilian deaths was one out of five.
According to the newspaper, the conclusions had been made after the journalists had visited more than 150 airstrike sites and the US air base in Qatar, from where the campaign is being directed, over the last 18 months.
The revelations regarding civilian casualties in Iraq show that the anti-Daesh campaign in the Middle East is "the least transparent war" in recent US history, as the coalition has underreported the number of civilians killed in its bombings, the report says.
READ MORE: Daesh Turns Former US Base in Iraq Into Gruesome Mass Grave
The Combined Joint Task Force itself has been updating its data on civilian casualites from time to time. Thus, according to its October report, the coalition's airstrikes in Syria and Iraq in September resulted in 51 civilian casualties, bumping up the total number of unintended deaths to 786.
At the same time, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has been updating its own information on civilian deaths in the country regularly, saying at the same time that the figures should be regarded as a minimum, since UN officers were unable to verify a number of reports about civilian casualties due to extremely difficult conditions in conflict-torn areas.
According to Middle East Monitor, the number of civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria skyrocketed following new military missions authorized by US President Donald Trump and his advisors, with some 2,160 civilian deaths or about 360 each month taking place during the new administration's first six months in office.
READ MORE: Collateral Crisis: Civilian Deaths in Syria, Iraq Skyrocket Under Trump
Previously, the Pentagon chief, General James Mattis, said that civilians deaths in Syria and Iraq should be regarded as a "fact of life." At the same time, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stated that the US military would stay in Iraq "until Daesh is defeated."
