"It is the toughest and most brutal close-quarters combat that I have experienced in my 34 years of service," Townsend told Pentagon reporters, speaking from Iraq. Rights group Amnesty International has said the high civilian toll in Mosul suggested US-led coalition forces had failed to take adequate precautions to prevent civilian deaths. One line of investigation is whether Islamic State rigged explosives that ultimately caused the blast that destroyed buildings. "My initial assessment is that we probably had a role in these casualties," Townsend told a Pentagon news briefing, speaking by teleconference. "I think that was a clean strike," Townsend said.

Source: India Today March 29, 2017 01:11 UTC