In Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend has admitted the United States probably played a role in the deaths of as many as 200 civilians in an airstrike on Mosul on March 17. Speaking from Baghdad, Townsend said, “My initial assessment is that we probably had a role in these casualties.” Meanwhile, Amnesty International continues to criticize the U.S.-backed Iraqi Army for having told civilians to stay in Mosul amid the months-long ongoing offensive, rather than to flee. This is Wa’ad al-Tai speaking about his family members who were killed in November after they followed the Iraqi government’s instructions not to leave the city.
Wa’ad al-Tai: “My son Yousef, age nine; my daughter Shahad, age three; my brother Mahmoud Ahmed Mahmoud, his wife Manaya and their son, Aws Mahmoud; and my other niece, Hanan Saad Ahmad.”