By Mohamed Waleed

NINEVEH, Iraq

At least 11 Iraqi security personnel were killed Wednesday by a booby-trap set by the Daesh terrorist group in western Mosul, according to an Iraqi security source.

Eleven security personnel from Iraq’s federal police and rapid-response forces were killed when a booby-trap exploded in a home they were searching in western Mosul’s Al-Zanjili district, Police Captain Sabhan Wali told Anadolu Agency.

According to Wali, army troops accompanied by federal police units had entered the district as part of mop-up operations conducted in areas recently retaken from Daesh.

The booby-trapped house, he said, had exploded as soon as the security personnel had entered it, instantly killing 11 of them.

For the last 12 days, Iraqi forces have fought to retake the Al-Zanjili district from Daesh terrorists, who, according to Iraqi military sources, have killed numerous local residents seeking to flee the area.

Since last October, Iraqi forces, backed by air cover provided by a U.S.-led coalition, have waged a wide-ranging offensive aimed at dislodging Daesh from the city of Mosul, the terrorist group’s last stronghold in northern Iraq.