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On January 27, a unit of Iraqi security forces was attacked by US-led coalition helicopters, according to the Iraqi Army Military Media Cell.
The source said that the unit was attacked by the US-led coalition when it was on its way back to its base after finishing its mission – to capture a commander of ISIS “Karim Afat Ali al-Samarad” in the town of al-Baghdadi in the western al-Anbar province,
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The Iraqi side didn’t provide any information on why the accident happened. However, the Military Media Cell hinted that a lack of coordination between the Iraqi security forces and the US-led coalition might have been the main reason.
From its side, US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon spokesman for the US-led coalition stressed in that all the US-led coalition airstrikes were coordinated with the Iraqi side. He added that the US-led coalition is investigating the incident.
Iraqi War Media Cell (link below) provides info on Iraqi ops last night in Anbar vs. ISIS terrorists. Any & all @CJTFOIR spt comes at request/approval of Iraq; NO unilateral coalition operations in Iraq. CJOC investigating, more info provided as available.https://t.co/xExO1VY0LI
— OIR Spokesman (@OIRSpox) January 27, 2018
An unnamed Iraqi official revealed to Reuters that six personnel of the Iraqi security forces and two civilians including a woman were killed in the US-led coalition airstrikes. Around twenty other people including a high ranking officer of the security forces were injured, according to the source.
Since 2014, the US-led coalition has been accused of attacking the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) during their battles against ISIS on several occasions. However, the US-led coalition never took any real measure to investigate the reasons behind such mistakes.
