Sometimes Hawra asks for her mother. Her father promises they will see her when Hawra gets better. The truth is, his wife is buried next to their neighborhood mosque along with her parents, all killed in a U.S. airstrike March 17 that destroyed their block in Mosul’s Jadidah neighborhood.
The strike is believed to have killed more than 200 people, the highest death toll since the campaign against Islamic State began three years ago, and has drawn international attention to the plight of civilians trapped in West Mosul.
U.S. military commanders concede their airstrike was likely responsible for the deaths, though the outcome of parallel U.S. and Iraqi investigations won’t be completed until later this month.