WASHINGTON: A senior U.S. official has reportedly dismissed the latest criticism of the country’s air campaign against the Islamic State (IS), saying that the raids have killed militants without killing large number of civilians.
Claiming that the air offensive was killing more than 1,000 militants a month while avoiding civilian casualties, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General John W. Hesterman III said that the idea that the country was only observing large number of IS members and not killing them was fiction, reported Fox News.
Lt. Gen. Hesterman, who is in charge of U.S. Central Command’s air forces and the coalition air campaign, also rejected reports that alleged that the air strikes conducted by the country earlier this week in the IS stronghold of Hawija killed dozens of civilians.
He admitted that the U.S. military attacked an IS facility used to build vehicle-borne suicide bombs by the terror outfit but added that if unintended injuries were caused, the responsibility rested solely with the IS for storing “a massive amount” of high explosives that were ignited by the airstrike.
He also said that the U.S. will examine the reports of high civilian casualties.