Eleven civilians die in western Mosul airstrikes, coalition suspected

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Eleven civilians including women and children, died Thursday in strikes by fighter jets at a district in Mosul targeted by a new offensive by the U.S.-backed Iraqi troops’ operations against the Islamic State.

Shafaaq news website quoted local sources saying that the deaths occurred when fighter jets, believed to be from the U.S.-led coalition at Hawi al-Kanisa, northwest of Mosul. The district is on the list of targets for Iraqi troops as operations take a new axis towards the strategic, IS-held Old City district.

The Iraqi command has reiterated it heeded civilians’ safety since it launched operations in October to retake Mosul from IS militants, accusing the group of fabricating reports about civilian casualties and causing the deaths itself. But the Pentagon said in March it was going to investigate reports that coalition jets killed more than 200 people in western Mosul’s al-Jadida district.

Iraqi government troops, backed by coalition fighter jets and ground paramilitary forces, recaptured eastern Mosul in January after three months of fighting, and have been sweeping through the western region since mid February, claiming to have retaken 70 percent of territory from militants.

According to the Iraqi government, the war in Mosul has displaced at last 600.000 civilians since October.