The top U.S. general commanding the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria said that the U.S.-led coalition was probably responsible for a blast that killed more than 200 people. "My initial assessment is that we probably had a role in these casualties,” Townsend said. The Iraqis said over the weekend that evidence suggested that Islamic State militants had rigged a house with explosives and used a car bomb to bring the apartment block down. Surviving victims of the strike described Islamic State militants herding civilians into houses at gunpoint ahead of the strike, then stationing snipers on the rooftops to provoke the coalition. The Pentagon has acknowledged at least 220 civilian deaths from coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since the U.S. campaign against Islamic State began in mid-2014.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 28, 2017 20:01 UTC