The Royal Air Force harmed just one civilian among more than 4,000 enemy fighters during just over four years of airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, the Ministry of Defence has said.
The figures, provided by the MoD in response to a freedom of information request by the charity Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), show that of the 4,315 individuals targeted by British airstrikes from September 2014 to January this year, 4,013 (93%) were killed and 302 (7%) were wounded.
In total, 75% of those harmed were in Iraq, with 2,994 enemies killed there and 235 surviving with injuries. Syria accounted for the remaining 25%, with the RAF killing 1,019 enemy fighters there and wounding 67.
The UK has bombed the two countries in a drive against Islamic State terror group, as part of the US-led coalition formed in 2014 that also includes France, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. In total, the coalition has carried out more than 33,000 strikes and has confirmed 1,190 deaths and 249 injuries among civilians.
Iain Overton, the executive director of AOAV, greeted the MoD figures with scepticism. He said: “The RAF’s claim of a ratio of one civilian casualty against 4,315 enemies must be a world record in modern conflict. Yet few conflict experts believe this to be true. To them, it is clear that far more needs to be done by the UK to improve transparency surrounding civilian casualties from airstrikes. Its coalition partner the US has committed to such, so why not the UK?”
The charity’s own data from eight years of monitoring deaths and injuries from explosive violence around the world shows that civilians accounted for 62% of all those harmed globally from air-launched weapons.
The AOAV says the British figures were “highly likely” to be under-recorded, especially considering how the majority of bombings in both cities were on buildings.
A spokesperson for the MoD said: “After every British airstrike we conduct a detailed battle damage assessment, which thoroughly examines the outcome of the strike against its target, be it Daesh [Isis] fighters, weapons, or bases. This assessment also looks very carefully at whether or not there has been any civilian casualty or damage to civilian infrastructure.”
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