The international coalition fighting the Islamic State group has opened a formal investigation to determine whether its air strikes last week near the Syrian city of Manbij claimed civilian lives, a spokesman said Wednesday. The main Syrian opposition group had urged the US-led coalition to suspend its bombardments following the July 19 strikes, which a rights-monitoring group and local residents said had killed dozens of civilians. After examining "internal and external information," the coalition determined that there was sufficient credible evidence of civilian victims to open a formal inquiry, said spokesman Colonel Chris Garver.
