US says Syria airstrike investigated by NY Times ‘legitimate’

The newspaper published the results of its investigation on Saturday saying a US special task force operating in Syria — sometimes leaving its military partners in the dark to preserve secrecy — dropped three bombs on a cluster of civilians near the Islamic State group bastion of Baghouz, killing 70 people, mainly women and children.

Along with 16 IS fighters determined to have died in the bombing, the investigation concluded at least four civilians were killed and eight wounded.

The New York Times found that the strike “was one of the largest civilian casualty incidents of the war against the Islamic State,” albeit never publicly acknowledged by the US military.