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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Of 30 members of his family, Ali Zanoon was the only one who survived a bombing in the war-torn neighborhood of New Mosul in the western half of the city as ISIS militants and advancing Iraqi troops fiercely clashed on March 17.
Stranded under the rubble of his destroyed house for five days, Ali was finally discovered by his brother Mubashir on March 22.
Attending to his wounded, distraught, white-haired brother, Mubashir struggles to inform Ali that the women and children all have died in the airstrike — two wives, three sons, four daughters, five nephews, a brother and sister-in-law were among the victims.
Asked to recount the moment of the incident, Ali replied on March 29, “I do not know, I am struck in the head, I do not remember anything.”
The distraught father of seven said, “On the sixth day I was grabbed out. I was feeling death. I was very thirsty. Those who were with me died.”
What he can remember is someone next to him under the ceiling of his house, who survived for four days, but eventually died of “hunger and thirst.”
Mubashir managed to discover and rescue his brother, Ali. He went to the site of the bombing to look for any family members who might have miraculously survived and said he heard a distant sound of his brother groaning in pain.
“Before the bombing had started we had all gathered at a house. After we heard bombing we got separated. I was with a brother. Ali and Adil [killed] were together. When I came out I started running house to house due to intense gunfire and finally broke into a house,” Mubashir said.
“I heard that some houses in the area were targeted. I rushed outside trying to cross the road to look for Ali and Adil, but the security forces did not let me, saying the area was not under control and horrendous.”
He went on to explain some days later “I along with two nephews were taken in a Humvee to the site. When we got to the spot I started crying out and naming Ali And Adil, eventually someone barely could answer pleading for help.”
He explained the reason why his brother was still alive was because “someone had given him a sip of water with some biscuits.”
He believed ISIS militants, Iraqi soldiers and even civilians had passed by but no one had rescued him.
“I was calling out to him while looking for him in the rubble. His voice was coming out of a very small hole. It was early in the morning and I immediately recognized his voice.
“My brother asked ‘Have you come to grab me out?’
“I replied ‘I am your brother and will get you out of here’
“He pleaded ‘You too do not leave me, as yesterday someone else came and gave me water and later went away.”
Abu Mohammed is another victim of the deadly attack, he also recounted the moment of the incident to Rudaw.
“We were in a basement for five days. The building collapsed and caught fire. There were 140 families in it. The building had a gas depot, when a rocket struck it, it burned,” Abu said.
Rudaw has reported that 200 people have been killed in the airstrikes.
Many western Mosul victims fill Erbil’s West Emergency Hospital and the hospital’s halls bustle with Mosul's wounded.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier this week it had so far confirmed the deaths of at least 100 people from the affected area.
There is a “fair chance” a coalition airstrike caused the civilian casualties of March 17, the operation’s commander, US Gen. Stephen Townsend, told reporters on Tuesday.
From his initial assessment, he believes the coalition “probably” had a role in the deaths, but added that the munitions used should not have caused the collapse of the entire building. An investigation is ongoing, he said.
Iraq’s foreign minister told Rudaw that ISIS uses civilians as human shields and that the army is cautiously striking “enemy” targets.
“Things are intentionally being made bigger than its actual size. We are taking care of the civilians, whether they are children, women, elderlies or any family. We spend more time and money for the sake of securing our civilian people,” Ibrahim al-Jaafari said.
ISIS’ latest tactic is to gather tens of civilians into homes as human shields and then take up positions on the roofs, firing at Iraqi forces, Rudaw’s Hevidar Ahmed reported on March 24.
“The enemy is using people as shields. This is what brought us to today,” Jaafari said. There [at the site of the bombing] were bombs, therefore causing casualties based on false mentions. The thing has become larger that it was and they are baseless," referring to report that the warplanes have randomly been bombing civilians.”
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