Dozens of civilian casualties in coalition airstrikes on western Mosul
Coalition aircraft while conducting airstrikes against IS in Iraq
Al-Jazeera said Tuesday the fighter jets pounded a residential complex in al-Shefaa neighborhood, and quoted Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency saying that 49 civilians were killed and 78 were wounded.
Also on Tuesday, Russian agency Sputnik said the strike killed 24 and wounded 50, noting that the majority of casualties were women and children.
No comment has yet been made by coalition commanders on the report, but there had been several previous incidents where civilians fall dead by mistake in airstrikes carried out by Iraqi forces or the coalition backing its operations against Islamic State militants in Mosul.
The United Nations had predicted at least 250.000 people to be displaced as the Iraqi forces launched Sunday a decisive phase of operations to retake western Mosul from IS militants. The government said late January its forces became in full control over the eastern region after three months of encounters.
Civilians trapped in IS-held areas had been one major reason for occasional operational slowdowns since the start of the campaign in October. Military commanders have foreseen a tough battle in western Mosul given the need to preserve the lives of at least 750.000 civilians residing in that region.