17 Iraqi civilians killed in coalition airstrikes on Mosul

17 Iraqi civilians killed in coalition airstrikes on Mosul
International coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State group (IS) in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul have killed 17 civilians local sources said on Monday.
2 min read
22 December, 2015
Civilians in Iraq have been enduing relentless violence for over a decade [Getty]

International coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State group (IS) in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul have killed 17 civilians on Monday, according to local sources.

Local sources told The New Arab that 17 civilians including women and children were killed and nine others wounded in a series of air raid conducted by coalition warplanes on the Wahda neighbourhood east of Mosul.

The coalition airstrikes that were targeting IS locations in the city are believed to have hit the residential neighbourhood by accident, resulting in the civilian fatalities.

The international coalition also struck a number of IS positions in the al-Karama district east of Mosul on Monday, killing 16 IS members and injuring other according to local sources.

One of the airstrikes targeted an IS weapons depot in the al-Karama district that was completely destroyed by the aerial bombing.

The international coalition announced on Monday that it has conducted a dozen airstrikes near the Iraqi cities of Mosul, Ramadi and Baiji on Sunday.

It said that it targeted IS tactical units, vehicles, weapons caches, fighting positions and other targets in a statement by the coalition's Combined Joint Task Force.

Ten Iraqi soldiers were killed in a coalition airstrike on Friday south of Fallujah, as they advanced onto the city that is under IS control and has seen intense fighting.

The coalition's Joint Operations Command said the incident occurred when two coalition strikes allowed Iraqi ground forces to advance rapidly towards positions held by fighters of the Islamic State group south of their stronghold of Fallujah.

A third airstrike struck when the two sides were in close combat, resulting in casualties to both, it said.

The Iraqi government announced that it has opened an investigation into the incident that led to the death of its troops amid calls for the coalition fighter who carried out the raid to stand trial.