US military: Civilians died in airstrikes on ISIL

Five separate US airstrikes on Daesh (ISIL) targets in Syria and Iraq over a period of two months in 2015 led to civilian casualties, the US military says.

In what seems to be the third disclosure since the start of the US-led air campaign against the Takfiris in 2014, the US military said on Friday that the airstrikes conducted between April 12 and July 4 last year left eight civilians killed and three others wounded.

The revelation came following investigations carried out by the US military's Central Commander which has previously reported a total of six civilian deaths.

"We deeply regret the unintentional loss of life and injuries resulting from those airstrikes and express our deepest sympathies to the victims' families and those affected," Central Command said in a statement on Friday. 

"We continue to review additional claims of civilian casualties and will provide additional information in the future," it added.

The eight people were killed during five separate air raids, including one on July 4 near al-Raqqa, Syria.

The US military said it hit three unidentified civilians, when it was targeting a "high-value individual" in the city.

The incident happened when a car and a motorcycle entered the target area after the weapon was released, it added.

Also, strikes against Daesh tactical units led to the deaths of three civilians on June 11 near Soluk, Syria, and another two on April 12 near al-Huwayjah, Iraq.

Another strike against two ISIL vehicles near Tall al-Adwaniyah, Syria on June 19, injured a civilian who entered the target area after the US aircraft released its weapon, the military said.

Two other civilians were injured during strikes against one Daesh tactical unit and two of the terrorists' vehicles on June 29, 2015 near Haditha, Iraq, it noted. 

According to the latest data released by the US military, there have been 9,627 US-led coalition air strikes as of Jan. 13, with 6,393 in Iraq and 3,234 in Syria.

A US defense official said that there have been 120 allegations of civilian casualties as of Monday. Eighty-seven of those have been considered non-credible.

Of the remaining 33 that have been determined to be credible, the US military announced eight of them so far and plans to announce the results of nine more cases in the near future.

Since August 2014, Washington and some of its allies have been conducting airstrikes against what they call Daesh positions in Iraq.

Some members of the US-led coalition have also been pounding purported ISIL positions inside Syria since September 2014, without any authorization from Damascus or the UN.

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