US BOMBING of targets in Iraq and Syria has killed hundreds of civilians, a monitoring group said yesterday, potentially boosting support for Islamic State (Isis).

The report by Airwars, a project to monitor the campaign of air strikes by the US-led coalition — a year old this week — detailed 57 specific attacks that it believed had killed up to 591 civilians and caused 80 suspected “friendly-fire” deaths among Western-backed militant groups.

“Almost all claims of non-combatant deaths from alleged coalition strikes emerge within 24 hours, with graphic images of reported victims often widely disseminated,” the report said.