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Pentagon: 484 civilians killed since 2014 in coalition strikes on IS

By Amy R. Connolly
Lightening and mortar illume fired by Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve light up West Mosul on March 20. The Pentagon said U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria killed at least 484 civilians since 2014. File Photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Hull/U.S. Army/UPI
Lightening and mortar illume fired by Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve light up West Mosul on March 20. The Pentagon said U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria killed at least 484 civilians since 2014. File Photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Hull/U.S. Army/UPI

June 3 (UPI) -- The Defense Department said at least 484 civilians have been killed in U.S. coalition air strikes in Iraq and Syria since the campaign against the Islamic State began in 2014

The death toll released by U.S. Central Command on Friday represents a 132 person increase over the number of dead it reported in April. The number of dead includes 101 civilians who were killed in a March 27 strike in Mosul. An investigation found the deaths were caused by a bomb detonating explosives planted by the IS, also known as ISIS and ISIL.

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The CENTCOM reported death toll remains lower than what monitors and non-governmental agencies have reported for Operation Inherent Resolve. Airwars, a London-based group of researchers and journalists who track civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria, reported 3,817 civilian deaths as a result of the coalition forces.

The CENTCOM report also said between August 2014 and April 2017 the coalition conducted 21,035 strikes that included 44,330 separate engagements.

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