Coalition says it hit Mosul site where civilians died

Coalition says it struck area in west Mosul where officials say scores of civilians were killed by aerial bombardment.

The US-led coalition bombing ISIL positions in Iraq has admitted that it carried out air raids last week at a location in west Mosul where officials and residents say scores of civilians were killed.

The acknowledgement on Saturday came hours after the United Nations said it was "stunned" by the reported deaths of civilians in suspected coalition air raids in Mosul's ISIL-held al-Jadida district on March 17.

"An initial review of strike data ... indicates that the coalition struck (ISIL) fighters and equipment, March 17, in west Mosul at the location corresponding to allegations of civilian casualties," the US military's Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement on Saturday.

The coalition said it had struck the area "at the request of the Iraqi security forces" and was investigating to determine the facts and the validity of reports of civilian casualties.

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Erbil in northern Iraq, said it took about a week for the coalition to acknowledge the air raids.

"The response came after intense pressure here in Iraq - probably popular pressure more than government pressure," she said.

"About 200 people are thought to have died in that strike alone," our correspondent added. "These reports of a high toll of civilian casualties were first given by the civilians who actually managed to get out of western Mosul."