The Ministry of Defence was facing questions last night after it admitted that British jets were flying in the region of west Mosul where a coalition air strike is feared to have killed more than a hundred civilians fleeing Isil.

A spokesman said the RAF was providing "close air support " to ground forces in the city, where on March 17 a US-led air strike destroyed several buildings in the neighbourhood of al-Jadidah.

They refused to confirm whether British jets were directly involved in the strike, but said they had seen "no evidence" of causing civilian deaths.