US airstrikes on Islamic State occupied town in Iraq reportedly kills 22 civilians

A US airstrike against the town of Hit held by the Islamic State killed 22 civilians and wounded many more as an apartments and a market were hit according to local residents.

Residents believe the target was a building not far down the road but it was not hit, indicating that the strike was an error. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) according to one source simply said that an attack west of Ramadi hit an ISIS-held building. A Kuwait source quotes CENTCOM as reporting several ISIS-held buildings being hit: An airstrike in western Ramadi destroyed three ISIL-held buildings and damaged two more, destroyed two ISIL anti-aircraft artillery pieces, and destroyed an ISIL unit, the statement said. Hit is a strategic town in the Euphrates River Valley in Anbar province.
 Major Curtis Kellogg a spokesperson for CENTCOM said there was no evidence that there were any civilian casualties in the Hit bombings. However this type of blanket statement is a standard response. The same is true for most cases in Afghanistan as well where NATO airstrikes have killed civilians. Even when Afghan officials confirm reports NATO or ISAF officials often refuse to change their account unless forced to do so by compelling evidence to the contrary.
The reports of casualties are not from Islamic State media but from the National Iraqi News Agency. The Agency claimed that US coalition forces bombs hit a market and that four children were among the dead and that the planes also bombed an "apartment building inhabited with families". A "security source" claimed that hundreds of families have fled Hit as bombings escalate.
 A resident of Raqqa, the main center held by IS in Syria, Abu Ibrahim Raqqawi told BBC: "The people are against IS, but if the USA bombs Raqqa, we will be with IS against the USA." He welcomed the bombing of the Tabqa air base and the group's headquarters in central Raqqa but claimed: ."Islamic State want these air strikes, because they know if it's just air strikes without forces on the ground, they will not fall down, and a lot of fighters will join them to fight the Americans." No doubt there will be similar responses in areas of Iraq controlled by the Islamic State especially since many of the Sunnis who cooperate with IS are former supporters of Hussein and will also see the US as simply agent's of the detested Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad.
No doubt the U.S. wlll try to create another Awakening Movement or Sons of Iraq to counter the radical jihadists. The groups were bankrolled by the U.S. and as soon as the paycheck vanished everything fell apart: Due to Shiʻite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's refusal to fully integrate the Sons of Iraq into the Iraqi Security Services, "by 2013, the Sons of Iraq were virtually nonexistent". Sunnis formerly serving with the group either became unemployed or joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.[4] An interview with a former leader of one group shows why it may be difficult for the US to enlist their help in fighting the IS or ISIS, the aging general said: If ISIS were to show up here, I would step aside and point them in the direction of the Green Zone,” Shibib said, referring to the former U.S.-run enclave in central Baghdad that is now the seat of the Iraqi government. “If they have any quarrel, they can take it up with them.”
CENTCOM reports that since August 8 the US has launched at least 340 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria combined but almost three quarters were in Iraq. Few details are usually given on aircraft used or numbers killed and wounded in the strikes. While the US may be generous in providing airstrikes it is stingy in providing refugee status. Journalists Lauren Gambino and Raya Jalabi claim that the US only accepted 38 Syrian refugees in 2013.
While US bombings may cause civilian deaths they no doubt are an "improvement" over the bombing , including barrel bombs, and random shelling of urban areas by Iraqi government forces. Other countries including Gulf States and Great Britain have joined the US in the bombings. The appended video shows a UK airstrike.