United States military actions killed 499 civilians in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen last year, the Pentagon said on Friday in a report that was a month overdue.
The report, which covers counterterrorism airstrikes and ground operations around the world, added that “more than 450 reports of civilian casualties from 2017 remained to be assessed,” which means that the number of acknowledged deaths could increase. It also said that 169 civilians were injured in American strikes.
The report does not list any civilian casualties in Somalia, where nongovernmental organizations and local officials have pinned scores of civilian deaths on American or American-backed military actions.
The Defense Department “has no credible reports of civilian casualties resulting from U.S. strikes in Somalia in 2017,” the report said. “One 2017 report of civilian casualties in Somalia remains under investigation.”
The report also said there were no credible claims of civilian casualties in Libya.
