Iraqi forces bombardment of Fallujah leaves several civilians dead

Several civilians have been killed and injured after Iraqi forces bombed the Islamic State group (IS) controlled city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad on Tuesday according to medical sources.

Iraqi army warplanes carried out several airs raid on the besieged city on Tuesday, hitting residential areas in the north and east of the city.

"Government warplanes launched 9 missiles on the city hitting residential areas," said Dr. Mohammad Fadhil, the spokesman for the Fallujah general hospital.

"19 civilians were killed in the bombing and 11 injured. The victims include an entire family that was killed in the bombing," added Fadhil.

The hospital spokesman said they were not able to treat all the victims due to the ongoing siege imposed on the city by government forces, which includes the entry of medical and relief supplies.

Fallujah, which is the largest city in Anbar province, has been under IS control for nearly two years.

The militant group has prevented thousands of its residents from leaving due as it uses them as human shields, while the Iraqi ministry of defence has ignored calls to stop its bombardment of the city due to the high number of civilian casualties.

Tuesday's civilian casualties raise the toll to 10,200 civilians killed since the start of the year according to the Fallujah medical authority, who say that over half of the victims are women and children.

Hammadi al-Dulaymi, a local resident told al-Araby al-Jadeed that the bombing started in the early hours of Tuesday morning and continued into the afternoon.

"Fallujah's residents are being wiped out. They've been living under indiscriminate bombs for two years," added al-Dulaymi.

Meanwhile, Iraqi government forces have imposed a siege on the city for the past 20 days, with residents complaining of dwindling food and medical supplies.

Officials at the city's main hospital say that they are suffering severe medical supply shortages and cannot treat residents caught up in the fighting between IS and government forces.

Local leaders have called upon the government to stop its indiscriminate bombing of residential neighbourhoods and to allow food and medical supplies into the city to relieve the suffering of the 100,000 residents that are being held hostage by IS.