Civilians killed in Mosul missile attack: Police source

By Ahmed Kasim and Serhad Sakir

MOSUL, Iraq (AA) - More than 80 civilians, including women and children, were killed by a missile attack in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, an Iraqi police source said Friday.

According to a first lieutenant in Iraq’s Federal Police Agency, the attack -- which occurred on Thursday --targeted a school in the city’s Daesh-held western side.

The source, who spoke anonymously as he was not authorized to speak to media, said a total of 81 civilians -- who had sought shelter in the school -- had been killed in the attack.

Casualties included 29 women and 18 children, the same source told Anadolu Agency, going on to note that the perpetrator of the attack remained unidentified.

Last October, the Iraqi army -- backed by a U.S.-led air coalition -- began a wide-ranging operation to retake Mosul from Daesh, which the terrorist group overran in mid-2014.