32 Iraqi civilians killed while fleeing Daesh in Mosul’s Old City

Thirty two Iraqi civilians, including women and children, were killed in a number of suicide attacks and militant assaults by Daesh fighters in Iraq on Monday as they tried to flee the group’s grip in Mosul’s Old City as Iraqi forces near regaining control of the area, Anadolu Agency reported.

Ahmed Qassem Al-Obeidi, an Iraqi security official, was quoted by Anadolu as saying that two suicide bombers who were wearing explosive belts infiltrated civilians who were fleeing the Old Mosul area of Dhaka Baraka and heading toward Iraqi army forces. The two suicide bombers included a female.

The bombing left eight men, 10 women and five children killed, Obeidi told Anadolu, adding that Iraqi forces are unable to evacuate the victims’ bodies because they are in Daesh’s range of fire.

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Moreover, a Daesh mortar attack killed nine fleeing civilians in the Mekkawi area, also located in Mosul’s Old City.

Among Iraqi forces, 15 Iraqi police forces were killed and five were wounded in a friendly-fire incident when the US-led coalition’s warplanes raided the areas they had advanced on in Mosul.

Anadolu quoted an Iraqi police source as saying that a coalition warplane’s raid killed 15 police soldiers and seriously wounded five others.

“Preliminary reports show that the plane belongs to the international coalition and it carried out a raid in a wrong way,” Jaafar Al-Tayyar said. “Top military commanders in Iraqi ground and air forces were informed of the incident so as to take necessary procedures.”