BAGHDAD - The US-led coalition has come under increasing scrutiny by monitoring groups regarding civilian casualties in the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq, a turn that is worrying some in the country's political leadership who fear the destruction and loss of life could complicate hopes of reconciliation with the country's minority Sunnis.

On Sunday, the US Defense Department said 352 civilians had been killed by coalition strikes in Iraq and Syria since the start of the air campaign against IS in 2014. However, activists and monitoring groups say the number is much higher.

The coalition argues that casualties are inevitable in urban warfare with irregulars mixing with civilians and determined to stage a last stand. But critics see a degree of recklessness and excess that aligns with the heavy-handed rule of the Sunni areas by the Shiite dominated Iraqi government.

Civilian deaths in the nearly three-year battle against IS spiked as Iraqi forces pushed into Mosul, undertaking some of the toughest fighting yet. The battle space, with its narrow streets, is claustrophobic and the Islamic State group is holding hundreds of thousands of civilians in the city as human shields.

Since Iraqi forces pushed into western Mosul in February, the fighting has killed and wounded more than 4,000 civilians, according to the United Nations, a number that only counts civilians who reached a trauma hospital for treatment.

In the most recent report, the Pentagon announced on Sunday that investigations conducted during the month of March show that coalition airstrikes killed 45 civilians, mostly in and around Mosul. In each incident, the Pentagon said "all feasible precautions were taken," but the strikes still resulted in "unintentional" loss of civilian life.

The report came days after President Donald Trump gave the Pentagon greater flexibility to determine the number of US troops in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon had already been making quiet, incremental additions to the troop levels in both countries in recent months.

The Pentagon acknowledged over the weekend that at least 352 civilians have been killed by coalition strikes in Iraq and Syria since the start of the air campaign against IS. Activists and monitoring groups put the number much higher, with London-based monitoring group Airwars reporting coalition strikes have killed more than 3,000 civilians in Iraq and Syria since 2014.

The Pentagon's statement also included the findings of an audit begun in March that inspected the way the US-led coalition reports and tracks civilian casualties in the fight against IS.

The statement said the audit found that 80 civilian deaths caused by coalition airstrikes had not been previously publicly reported and two civilian deaths previously reported were found to have not been caused by the coalition.

Some in Iraq's political leadership have expressed concern that the levels of damage and loss of human life in Mosul will make reconciliation with the country's minority Sunni population more difficult after a military defeat of IS.

Xinhua - AP