WASHINGTON, May 3 (Xinhua): Around 120 civilians were killed by U.S. overseas military operations in 2018, said a report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
"There are credible reports of approximately 120 civilians killed and approximately 65 civilians injured during 2018 as a result of U.S. military operations in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia," said the Annual Report on Civilian Casualties in Connection with U.S. Military Operations.
Among those killed, 42 were in Iraq and Syria, 76 were in Afghanistan, and two were in Somalia, the report said.
The figure did not include civilian casualties caused by U.S. military operations in Yemen and Libya, it said.
Around 793 civilians were killed by U.S. military operations in Iraq and Syria in 2017, it added.
The DOD report was refuted by activist groups who called it a grossly incomplete tally, as the real number may be significantly higher.
"These numbers simply are not credible," said Hina Shamsi, director of the National Security Project of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"The administration failed to comply with Congressional-mandated reporting requirements in a clear effort to conceal from the American public the true toll of its lethal strikes abroad," she said.
"International NGO (non-governmental organization) estimates of civilian harm are running at approximately ten times greater than DOD's own estimates," said Chris Woods, founder of Airwars, a London nonprofit that monitors civilian casualties across the globe.
According to Airwars, U.S.-led strikes in Iraq and Syria have killed between 800 and 1,700 civilians last year.
The DOD acknowledged in its report that it used a "different methodology" from NGOs in calculating casualties.
