Sorwar Alam
07 January 2017•Update: 08 January 2017
By Ibrahim Toprak
MOSUL, Iraq
Coalition warplanes killed 27 civilians in airstrikes in Iraq’s Mosul city on Saturday, an Iraqi doctor said.
Dr. Ahmed Raid al-Hamadani, an official with Mosul operations' mobile hospitals unit, told Anadolu Agency: “As far as we have learnt from eyewitnesses, a civilian convey of 10 vehicles was targeted by coalition forces in eastern part of Mosul, where Daesh has no connection.”
Al-Hamadani said at least 15 people were killed in the attack.
In a separate operation, coalition planes also hit Ibn al-Haysum, a civilian residential neighborhood in southeastern Mosul, killing 12 civilians, including women and children, he added.
The coalition operation command did not make any official statement regarding the allegations.
The Iraqi military, backed by U.S.-led coalition warplanes and local allies on the ground, is currently engaged in a major offensive aimed at ousting Daesh from Mosul, which the group overran in 2014.
Since the operation began last October, Iraqi forces have reportedly recaptured more than a quarter of Mosul, once considered Iraq’s second largest city in terms of population.
Despite initial expectations that the city would be retaken by year’s end, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said in Dec. 2016 that at least three more months would be required to completely remove Daesh from Iraq.
