US-led coalition airstrikes against western Mosul killed a large number of civilians in recent weeks, and there is increasing reason to believe that British warplanes were involved in the operation, with the Royal Air Force (RAF) confirming that their planes were active in Mosul at the time.

The RAF is looking quite evasive on the details of their involvement, however, saying they will support investigations “as required,” but refusing to offer details of what their planes were doing at the time all the civilians were killed, beyond “liberating western Mosul.”

British Tornado aircraft in the area were previously reported to have fired five 500 lb missiles into western Mosul, but since reports of civilian deaths they’ve offered little detail on what they were firing at, beyond “terrorists,” and seem eager to avoid any details on proximity to the civilian poll.

Officials were also quick to insist that the day when all the civilians were killed was “very challenging,” because it was cloudy, and that visibility wasn’t nearly what it should have been. This lack of visibility did not, apparently, have an impact on the decision to bomb densely populated areas.