There is “credible” evidence British airstrikes against the Islamic State group have killed civilians in Iraq and Syria, the US military has said.
The Ministry of Defence has continued to deny American reports that some RAF airstrikes against IS have harmed civilians.
The RAF has deployed 4,409 bombs and missiles in the five-year war with IS.
The MoD’s approach to identifying civilian casualties has been described as “not fit for purpose”.
Airwars, a group which has been monitoring the bombing campaign and its impact on civilians, has obtained details of 11 airstrikes carried out by European nations in which at least 40 civilians were killed.
The UK has admitted the RAF was involved in three of the strikes but still insists no civilians were killed.
One of the incidents involving the RAF was investigated by the BBC in 2018 after a whistleblower inside the US-led anti-IS coalition reported civilian deaths.
The coalition now confirms two civilians were killed.
The MoD claims it has killed 3,964 IS fighters and injured 298.
But so far it has accepted responsibility for just one civilian casualty – and none in the heavily-bombed cities of Raqqa and Mosul, where thousands of civilians are believed to have died.
Airwars has documented reports of nearly 30,000 civilian deaths across Iraq and Syria since 2014.
So far the coalition has accepted responsibility for 1,300, the vast majority killed as a result of US airstrikes.
Chris Woods, the director of Airwars, said: “The fact that the coalition has determined these three RAF strikes to be credible events is very significant.”
The MoD said an RAF Tornado hit a truck bomb.
The BBC visited the site in 2018 after being told of likely civilian casualties by a whistleblower inside the coalition.
At the time the MoD said all those killed were “highly likely” IS fighters.
But following the BBC investigation the US now says: “Two civilians were unintentionally killed.”
The MoD described it as a strike on enemy fighters using a mortar system in a building.
Airwars documented numerous reports from the ground of as many as 10 civilians killed – including a father and his young daughter, Walid Awad Al Qus and Limar Awad Al Qus.
The MoD said it has seen no evidence of civilian casualties.
But the US military said: “Regrettably 12 civilians were unintentionally killed and six were unintentionally injured as a result of the blast.”
