美国：联军空袭在伊拉克和叙利亚造成64名平民死亡

The United States military said Wednesday its airstrike campaign targeting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria killed 64 civilians and injured 8 others during the past year.

The new numbers released by U.S. Central Command bring the official total number of civilians killed since the operation began in August 2017 to 119 with another 37 injured.

Rights groups and monitors say the real number is much higher. Amnesty International reported in October that airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition appeared to have killed more than 300 people in Syria alone during the past two years.

Pentagon data shows U.S. forces are responsible for about two-thirds of all coalition airstrikes.

Wednesday's new casualty figures do not include an airstrike in July in the northern Syrian city of Manbij, where residents and rights groups said more than 50 civilians were killed. The U.S. military is still investigating that attack.

Central Command spokesman Col. John Thomas said there are teams that work to prevent "unintended civilian casualties."

"Sometimes civilians bear the brunt of military action but we do all we can to minimize those occurrences even at the cost of sometimes missing the chance to strike valid targets in real time," he said in a statement.

Since the airstrikes began -- first in Iraq in August 2017, then in Syria a month later -- there have been more than 16,000 by the coalition at a cost of about $12 million per day. In October, the coalition reported an average of about 10 airstrikes each day in both Iraq and Syria.

美国军方星期三说，过去一年来，针对伊拉克和叙利亚的“伊斯兰国”激进分子发动的空袭行动造成64名平民丧生，八人受伤。

最新数字由美军中央司令部发布。自2017年8月空袭行动开始以来，官方统计的总平民死亡数为119人，37人受伤。

人权组织和观察机构表示，实际数字要高得多。国际特赦组织10月说，过去两年中，美国领导的联军发动的空袭仅在叙利亚就造成了300多人丧生。

五角大楼的数据显示，美军的行动在联军发动的所有空袭中占约三分之二。

星期三披露的最新伤亡数字不包括7月在叙利亚北部城市曼比杰发动的一次空袭。当地居民和人权组织称，空袭造成50多名平民遇难。美国军方仍在对那次袭击进行调查。

中央司令部发言人约翰·托马斯上校说，有专门的团队负责防止“误伤平民”的事件发生。

他在一份声明中说：“有时军事行动会殃及平民，但我们尽可能将这种情况发生的几率降到最低，即使这样做会让我们失去打击目标的机会。”

自从对伊拉克和叙利亚的空袭分别于2017年8月和9月开始以来，联军总共发动了一万六千余次空袭，平均每天花费约120万美元。 今年10月，联军的报告称，在伊拉克和叙利亚平均每天发动大约十次空袭。