The choice of weapons by the Iraqi security forces and its allies from the US-led coalition is endangering the lives of civilians in Mosul, rights groups said on Thursday.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and a number of other rights groups issued a joint statement warning that some air strikes and unguided munitions used against the Islamic State group in the northern Iraqi city were inappropriate.
The statement listed recent occurrences of civilian deaths as a result of explosive weapons being used in anti-jihadist operations in Mosul, and urged all sides of the conflict to spare the estimated 200,000 people still stuck in the IS-held Old City.
“Iraqi and coalition forces should recognise that in the crowded Old City, using explosive weapons with wide area effects puts civilians at excessive risk,” HRW’s Middle East director Lamah Fakih said.
The statement said that large air-dropped bombs as well as mortar rounds, unguided artillery rockets and improvised rocket-assisted munitions used in Mosul are “inaccurate and can be unlawfully indiscriminate if used in heavily populated areas”.
The office of United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement on Thursday that 50 to 80 civilians were killed in an air strike on an IS-controlled Mosul neighbourhood on May 31.
In March, at least 105 civilians were killed when a US aircraft carried out a strike on a building in the Mosul al-Jadida area that triggered IS explosives, an inquiry found.
The bomb used was a GBU-38, a munition that weighs 500 pounds (225 kilos).
The statement said the use of air-dropped bombs weighing 500 pounds and up in densely populated areas may violate international humanitarian law, which prohibits “disproportionate military attacks”.
The high civilian casualties in the Mosul battle are mostly a result of the jihadists’ human shield tactic, which consists of hindering anti-IS operations by preventing the population from fleeing and sheltering in its midst.
The jihadists have on several occasions killed civilians who were attempting to flee or were even just suspected of planning to do so.
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