Aitha, Iraq
A U.S. F-16 dropped a 500-pound bomb on the wrong house this week, killing at least five Iraqis. Iraqi neighbors said that 14 members of the same family, including seven children, were killed. But U.S. officials said they could not confirm that count, since the brick house was leveled and the victims’ remains all but obliterated. The airstrike was intended to support troops searching for a militant leader in a town near Mosul—Iraq’s third-largest city and an insurgency hotbed. In an unusual admission, military commanders confirmed that the laser-guided bomb had gone astray. The Pentagon said it regretted the loss of “possibly innocent lives.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Denmark scraps letters and its iconic red postboxesUnder the Radar Danish posties say ‘farvel’ to 400 years of tradition but can Royal Mail weather the storm?
-
What role will Trump play in the battle over Warner Bros. Discovery?Today’s Big Question Netflix and Paramount fight for the president’s approval
-
‘The menu’s other highlights smack of the surreal’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
