Two Iraqi civilians killed in US-led drone strike

At least two Iraqi civilians have reportedly been killed in a drone strike by the US-led military coalition purportedly formed to fight the Daesh terrorist group in the country’s northern province of Salahuddin.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, that the civilians were killed in an area on the outskirts of Baiji city, located some 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of the Baghdad, on Tuesday evening as they were collecting the wreckage of another coalition drone that had earlier crashed there.

According to the Airwars monitoring group, more than 7,900 civilians are estimated to have been killed in the US-led coalition raids in Iraq and Syria.

Back in April 2019, an investigation by activists concluded that more than 1,600 civilians were killed in US-led attacks on the northern Syrian city of Raqqa alone during a five-month campaign to purportedly oust Daesh in 2017.

Amnesty International and Airwars said they had carried out investigations at 200 strike locations and identified 1,000 of the victims.

They urged the coalition to “end almost two years of denial” about such deaths.

Iraqi lawmakers unanimously approved a bill on January 5, demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops following the US assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of Iraq’s PMF, and their companions.

The Iraqi government has yet to act on the parliamentary resolution to expel foreign troops amid reports that the US is working to prolong its stay in the country.