RAMADI, Iraq

At least 13 people were injured when the army shelled a residential area of Fallujah in Iraq's violence-wracked Anbar province, eyewitnesses said Tuesday.

"The Fallujah general hospital received 13 injured civilians, including women and children, after the army shelled homes in Fallujah," hospital spokesperson Wessam al-Eissawi told Anadolu Agency.

Most of the injured were only slightly wounded and have since been discharged, he added.

Meanwhile, hospital doctors gave Iraq's Health Ministry a 24-hour deadline by which to intervene to stop the shelling of the hospital, threatening to stop working if their demands went unmet.

"The hospital medical staff urges the health minister to immediately intervene to stop the targeting of the hospital," chief doctor Ahmed al-Shami said at a Tuesday press conference.

The Iraqi army is currently conducting a major military operation in the restive, predominantly Sunni province.

According to the government, the operation aims to flush out militants affiliated with the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State for Iraq and Levant.

Sunni tribes opposed to the Shiite-dominated government, however, have been infuriated by the civilian causalities caused by the operation.

By Aref Youssef

englishnews@aa.com.tr