Daesh attacks, coalition planes kill scores in W. Mosul

By Ahmed Kassem and Sarhad Shaker  

NINEVEH, Iraq

At least 47 civilians were killed Wednesday in attacks carried out by the Daesh terrorist group and airstrikes conducted by a U.S.-led coalition in residential parts of western Mosul, according to an Iraqi police source.

“Daesh militants executed 34 civilians, including some women and children, who had attempted to flee western Mosul’s Dura al-Khayyat district,” Police Captain Safok Mohamed al-Juhaishi told Anadolu Agency. 

“The terrorists threw the victims’ bodies into the streets to serve as an example for others,” he added.

In mid-2014, Daesh overran vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq, including the northern city of Mosul. Since then, however, the Iraqi army and its allies have managed to recapture most lost territory.

Al-Juhaishi also said that U.S.-led coalition aircraft had destroyed a car bomb on Wednesday that had targeted federal police units in western Mosul’s Zanjili district.

“Detonation of the car bomb led to the death of the suicide bomber driving it, while also leveling a nearby home killing 13 members of the same family,” he said. 

The U.S.-led coalition, for its part, has yet to comment on the reported incident. 

Since last October, Iraqi forces have waged large-scale military operations aimed at driving Daesh from Mosul, the terrorist group’s last major stronghold in northern Iraq.