Four casualties in IS mortar shelling in central Mosul

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) One civilian was killed and three others were wounded, including a security soldier, in a mortar shelling by Islamic State militants on areas at central Mosul Wednesday with mortar missiles, according to security sources.

Shafaaq News website quoted the source saying that a girl was killed and two other civilians were injured when a mortar shell launched by militants landed on al-Farouq area, in central Mosul.

Other rockets fell on Souq al-Arbaa market and Bab al-Toub, wounding a member of the Rapid Response forces.

The Federal Police command said earlier on Wednesday that IS members have begun to shell areas recaptured by security forces in western Mosul, but said they became in control over passageways in the Old City which militants used to pass through to carry out suicide attacks on troops.

Iraqi government forces recaptured eastern Mosul in January and launched an offensive in February to recapture the western region. Iraqi troops are currently working to retake central Mosul districts from IS militants, specifically eyeing the city’s grand Nuri al-Kabir mosque in the Old City, where the group’s self-styled “Caliphate” was declared in 2014.

There have been several instances of civilians’ deaths since operations launched in October to retake Mosul, with international rights groups blaming all parties to the conflict for the deaths.