Not fewer than 85 people, including children, have been killed in a US led airstrike's targeting ISIS fighters in the Northern Syria. According to a report by a monitoring group, some eight families were all wiped out after the coalition forces attacked a village of Tokhar near Manbij on Tuesday (19 July) known to be controlled by ISIS.
The Turkey-based Syrian Institute for Justice has said the number of casualties could be more as rescuers are still pulling out bodies from the rubble, including children. Some of the photos revealed at the scene of the airstrike showed several half-buried children pulled out from the rubbles.
The US military confirmed it conducted a military action in the area, and it is currently investigating civilian death. This is the deadliest civilian death since the coalition forces started their operation in Syria.
Another monitoring group, UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights believed the bombing was an error after the pilot mistook civilians for IS fighters. The group also reported that another 6 civilians (a woman with four of her children and an old man) were killed last Sunday in Manbij.
The coalition forces have been helping the Kurdish-led ground forces retake Manbij and surrounding villages after ISIS took over the location since 2014.
The forces have had a hard time entering the city as IS fighters have been using snipers and mines to counter attack the forces, and while thousands of civilians have fled the city, the other civilians are used as human shield.
ISIS terrorists are trying to hold down Manbij as loosing the city would affect their supplies between the Turkish border and the capital of the self-declared Islamic State, Raqqa.