RAF jets hit ISIS in Mosul the same day an air strike ‘wiped out 200 civilians’
The Ministry of Defence says it is supporting an investigation into the incident
RAF jets were bombing ISIS terror thugs in a war-torn area of Mosul the same day 200 civilians are feared to have been killed in an airstrike.
On March 17 Tornado fighter bombers supported Iraqi troops advancing inside western Mosul and destroyed five ISIS targets.
That same day a US-led coalition strike hit an area where residents and officials said as many as 200 civilians may have been killed as result of an air raid.
But an MoD spokesman said there is no evidence to suggest RAF jets were behind the deaths.
A statement said: "As operations to liberate western Mosul and Raqqa intensify, the RAF continues to provide precision close air support to ground forces engaged in difficult urban combat.
"We conduct detailed assessments after each strike and review information from organisations such as Airwars and we have not seen evidence that we have been responsible for civilian casualties so far.
"Through our rigorous targeting processes we will continue to seek to minimise the risk of civilian casualties, but that risk can never be removed entirely."
It added: ";We are aware of reports, and will support the Coalition investigation as required."
The US-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Iraq has taken every measure to protect civilians and will investigate reports of civilian deaths during an operation in Mosul, a US general involved in the operation said today.
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Brigadier General Matthew Isler, a deputy commanding general for the US-led coalition, told Reuters he could not provide details of the military investigation into civilian deaths in western Mosul.
"The coalition takes every feasible measure to protect civilians from harm. The coalition takes every allegation seriously and investigates all credible allegations," Isler said in a telephone interview from Baghdad, Iraq.
Isler would not comment on specifics in the investigation.
Conflicting accounts emerged on Sunday about an explosion in west Mosul on March 17 after a US-led coalition strike against Islamic State that local officials said collapsed buildings, killing and burying many people.
Iraq's military said 61 bodies were recovered from a destroyed building that Islamic State had booby-trapped, but that there was no sign the building had been hit by an air strike.
Witnesses and local officials said many more bodies were pulled from the building after a coalition strike targeted ISIS militants and equipment in the Jadida district.