The Pentagon finally agreed to investigate the airstrike that killed at least 74 Syrian civilians

The U.S. military is investigating a coalition airstrike that left 74 civilians dead.

(Image credit: DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

published 28 July 2016

The Pentagon has opened a formal inquiry into a coalition airstrike on the village of Tokkhar, Syria, on July 19 that left at least 74 civilians dead. The decision comes just days before an internal Department of Defense deadline to launch the investigation.

Carried out by the U.S. Air Force, the strike allegedly mistook civilians for Islamic State fighters. Casualty estimates vary, with one United Kingdom-based group positing that as many as 203 innocents may have been killed. Most recently, a 14-year-old girl died from injuries sustained in the attack, which "pulverized entire families."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.