AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered the Netherlands’ government to supply more documents in a civil case by more than 20 victims of a Dutch air strike against an alleged Islamic State bomb factory in northern Iraq in 2015.
Lawyers for the victims of the strike, which killed about 70 people, had argued that the bombing had violated the laws of war because it did not properly take into account the possibility of civilian victims.
The District Court in The Hague said in an interim judgement said it needed more information from the state on the circumstances under which the so-called “red card holder”, the person responsible for the final decision on the strike, came to its decision.
This should make clear whether the risks of targeting a bomb factory were foreseeable and which earlier comparable events had been taken into account.
The Dutch state, however, has said these documents are classified. Another court will first assess this claim, the District Court said.
In hearings last October, lawyers for the state said the Dutch military identified the area as an industrial complex and did not expect civilians to be present in large numbers. They argued the Netherlands acted within the laws the war.
The Hawija bombing killed around 70 people, including civilians and Islamic State fighters, according to the Dutch Defence Ministry.
The bombing mission was one of approximately 2,100 raids carried out over Iraq and Syria by Dutch F-16s as part of the anti-IS coalition between 2014 and 2018.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer and Stephanie van den Berg, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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