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Firefighters search for the bodies of civilians who were killed after an air strike against ISIS fighters triggered a massive explosion in Mosul, Iraq, on March 22, 2017.

Reuters

WASHINGTON -- A Pentagon investigation has found that more than 100 civilians were killed after the U.S. dropped a bomb on a building in Mosul, Iraq, in March.

The probe found that the U.S. bomb triggered secondary explosions from devices clandestinely planted there by fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). And the military says the secondary blasts caused the concrete building to collapse.

The lead investigator and author of the report is Air Force Brig. Gen. Matthew Isler.

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At least a hundred people were killed by a huge explosion in Mosul, with some eyewitnesses blaming a coalition airstrike. Most of the victims wer...

The air strike had been requested by Iraqi troops who were 100 yards away and could see the location of the two snipers on the second floor of a two story building, investigators found.

However, the Iraqis could only see one side of the building and did not observe any civilians entering the building. Bad weather on the two preceding days prevented observation of the building from drones overhead, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

When the strike was approved, coalition forces had no information that civilians had taken shelter inside the building, Isler said.

Both snipers were killed in the strike and ensuing secondary explosion, as well as 101 civilians taking shelter in the lower floors. Another four civilians died in a nearby building, Isler said. He said 36 civilians remain unaccounted for.

The investigation determined that the collapse of the building could not have been caused by the 500 U.S. pound bomb, which contained 196 pounds of explosives. Explosives experts estimated it would take at least 1,000 pounds of TNT distributed throughout the second floor of the building to bring it down.

Explosive residue found at the blast site did not match the type of explosives used in a 500-pound bomb, Isler said, but did match explosives previously used by ISIS.

"They put a lot of work into this set up," Isler said. He concluded ISIS intended the explosives to kill civilians once the sniper's nest was bombed.

The civilians had taken shelter in the basement and on the first floor of the building because it was well-built and the owner had offered it up as shelter.

It was likely the largest single incident of civilian deaths since the U.S. air campaign against IS began in 2014. The deaths represent about a quarter of all civilian deaths since the U.S. air campaign began.

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Pentagon report says more than 100 civilians killed in March bombing in Iraq - CBS News

Common Dreams

Iraq and Afghanistan: The $6 Trillion Bill for America's Longest War Is Unpaid Common Dreams The high rates of injuries and increased survival rates in Iraq and Afghanistan mean that over half the 2.5 million who served there suffered some degree of disability. Their health care and disability benefits alone will easily cost $1 trillion in ... and more »

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Iraq and Afghanistan: The $6 Trillion Bill for America's Longest War Is Unpaid - Common Dreams

Theresa May, left, during a meeting in Taormina, Sicily, on May 26, 2017.

The Group of Seven nations must help Iraq and its neighbors catch and prosecute foreign nationals who travel to fight for Islamic State, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said as she called for global action in the wake of the Manchester bombing.

Speaking at the G-7 summit in Taormina, Sicily, May warned that foreign nationals who travel to Syria and Iraq will try to return to their home countries to carry out attacks on civilians.

Allies must share the names of terror suspects to help the countries they pass through to catch them -- and should also hand over evidence such as videos or papers that show citizens who have traveled to conflict zones, she said.

May also wants the G-7 to help Iraq and other countries prosecute foreign fighters they capture in their own courts. Her call came four days after a suicide bomber killed 22 people including children at a concert in Manchester, northern England.

It is vital we do more to cooperate with our partners in the region to step up returns and prosecutions of foreign fighters, May said. This means improving intelligence-sharing, evidence gathering and bolstering countries police and legal processes.

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U.K.'s May Urges G-7 to Help Iraq Prosecute Foreign Jihadists - Bloomberg

WASHINGTON Three senior Islamic State military leaders and planners were killed in coalition attacks in Iraq and Syria over the past two months, the coalition fighting the militants said in a statement released by the Pentagon on Friday.

Mustafa Gunes, an Islamic State operative from Turkey, was killed in an air strike in Mayadin, Syria, on April 27, the statement said. Abu Asim al-Jazeri, an Islamic State planner from Algeria, was killed in Mayadin on May 11, it said.

Abu Khattab al-Rawi, an Islamic State military leader, was killed in al Qaim, Iraq, on May 18, the statement said. It said all three were foreign fighters but did not identify al-Rawi's home country.

(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

MINYA, Egypt Egyptian air force planes on Friday carried out strikes directed at camps in Libya where Cairo believes militants responsible for a deadly attack on Christians earlier in the day were trained, Egyptian military sources said.

WASHINGTON Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted a U.S. Navy surveillance plane over the South China Sea on Wednesday, with one coming within 200 yards (180 meters) of the American aircraft, U.S. officials told Reuters.

TRIPOLI Heavy clashes erupted in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Friday, as armed groups aligned with the U.N.-backed government fought to fend off a major offensive by rival Islamist-leaning forces and militia fighters.

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Three top Islamic State militants killed in Iraq, Syria: Pentagon - Reuters

IRBIL, Iraq The U.S. Army failed to properly keep tracks of hundreds of humvees, tens of thousands of rifles and other pieces of military equipment that were sent to Iraq, according to a governmentaudit from 2016 that was obtained by Amnesty International and released Wednesday.

The price of the equipment meant to equip the Iraqi army, Shiite militias and the Kurdish peshmerga totaled more than $1 billion.

This audit provides a worrying insight into the U.S. Armys flawed and potentially dangerous system for controlling millions of dollars worth of arms transfers to a hugely volatile region, Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty Internationals Arms Control and Human Rights researcher, said in an emailed statement.

[Tracking U.S. weapons grows harder in the fog of Iraqs fragmented war]

The arms and equipment transfers were apart of the Iraq Train and Equip Fund, a program that initially appropriated $1.6 billionunder the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act to help Iraqi forces combat the rise of the Islamic State. The 2017 act is slated to lend$919.5 million to the fund.

The audit found that improper record-keeping, including duplicatedspreadsheets, handwritten receipts and a lack of a central database to track the transfers, contributed to the reportsfindings. Additionally, the audit claimed that under the Iraqi Train and Equip Fund, once the equipment was transferredto the government of Iraq, the Pentagon no longer had to monitor the materialas it was no longer U.S. government property.

While likely not an issue for things such as uniform items and body armor, the lack of any post-transfer accountability on U.S. arms and munitions raises the chances for illicitdiversion from the intended supply chain. Currently, the Middle East is awash in U.S. weapons and equipment, and with President Trumps decision to equip Kurdish forces in Syria with more weapons, it is unclear whether the United States has learned from any of its past mistakes in the region.

The need for post-delivery checks is vital, Wilcken said. Any fragilities along the transfer chain greatly increase the risks of weapons going astray in a region where armed groups have wrought havoc and caused immense human suffering.

The audit said the training and equipment fundsmanagementhad initiateda two-step corrective action plan to implement visibility and accountability systems following concerns raised by the Pentagons inspector general. The audit does not detail what the corrective actions might entail. However, it wouldlikely include greater oversight by the Pentagons End Use Monitoring division. The division runs the Golden Sentry Program, with the intended purpose ofmonitoring the transfer and stockpiles of U.S. equipment that is providedto other countries.

[Afghanistan may have lost track of more than 200,000 weapons]

A 2015 audit on the Iraq Train and Equip Fund found similar issues, including almost no record-keeping on the Iraqi side.

Iain Overton, a former BBC journalist, and histeam of researchers pulled 14 years of Pentagon contracts, revealing that the United States has supplied more than 1.45 million firearms to various armed groupsin Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a New York Times magazine report. Those includemore than 978,000 assault rifles, 266,000 pistols and almost 112,000 machine guns. It is unclear how many of those remain in possession of their intended recipients.

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Mosul residents say U.S.-led coalition airstrikes killed scores of people

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U.S. failed to keep proper track of more than $1 billion in weapons and - Washington Post