Newly released Pentagon records reveal that as many as 27 Iraqi civilians may have been killed during a Jan. 21 air strike that took place against Islamic State (ISIS) forces, according to The Globe and Mail. Although the information has been kept hidden by the military up until now, documents show that Canada's Kurdish allies are in Iraq are the ones who made the initial allegation.
The Canadian military claims that they never investigated the matter because there was no evidence to support the charge and made it clear that they had no obligation to.
"It should be noted that Canadian Joint Operations Command [legal advisers] opinion is that, under the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) there are no obligations for the Canadian Armed Forces to conduct an investigation," the documents say.
"The [Canadian Air Force] review identified that there were no substantive grounds to believe that civilians had been killed," said Capt. Kirk Sullivan, Canadian Armed Forces Public Affairs Officer "Furthermore, subsequent to the allegations, there was no information from the Iraqi Security Forces or government suggesting there may have been civilian casualties."
Many are beginning to questions the grounds for which the Canadian military dismissed the allegations, according to CBC News.
"It wasn't a question of some civilian or some individual off the street, for lack of a better description, saying, 'I heard this,'" said Stuart Hendin, a Canadian lawyer. "When one of your allies is saying we have a report of this, it's something that ought to be taken with much more than a grain of salt. It has to be taken a little bit seriously."
Since late last year, Canada's CF-18 Hornets have been taking part in a U.S.-led air bombing campaign against ISIS to help Iraqi troops recapture ground, according to Metro.
