Netherlands to probe 2016 anti-Islamic State air strike in Iraq

The Dutch government on Thursday said it would investigate an air strike against an alleged Islamic State headquarters in northern Iraq in 2016, which might have killed seven civilians. The Netherlands in 2020 said it would compensate relatives of four civilians who were killed when their house was bombed by a Dutch F-16 in Mosul in 2015.

The Dutch government on Thursday said it would investigate an air strike against an alleged Islamic State headquarters in northern Iraq in 2016, which might have killed seven civilians. A bomb dropped by a Dutch F-16 fighter jet taking part in U.S.-led counter-terrorism operations on March 22, 2016, destroyed a building in Mosul, which was believed to be the headquarters of the militant group.

But the Dutch Defence Ministry said it suspected the raid had killed civilians instead, after Dutch broadcaster NOS and newspaper NRC said their research had shown that the building had only housed two families that had no ties to Islamic State militants. The ministry said it would publish a list with details of all the approximately 2,100 raids carried out over Iraq and Syria by Dutch F-16s as part of the anti-IS coalition between 2014 and 2018.

It said the list would include the date, time, weather conditions, type of mission and possible collateral damage of each flight. The Netherlands in 2020 said it would compensate relatives of four civilians who were killed when their house was bombed by a Dutch F-16 in Mosul in 2015.