W. Mosul's old quarter hit by airstrike; 11 killed

By Sarhad Shakir

NINEVEH, Iraq (AA) - At least 11 people were killed in a Thursday airstrike that targeted a historical district of western Mosul as Daesh militants clashed with tribal volunteer fighters to the city’s south, local sources have said.

“According to information received from our sources inside western Mosul, 11 people were killed -- including women and children -- in an airstrike that targeted the Al-Mushahada district of the city’s old quarter,” Ammar Hussein al-Najjar, an Iraqi activist, told Anadolu Agency.

While he did not disclose the source of the airstrike, western Mosul has recently been the target of fierce bombardments by a U.S.-led anti-Daesh air coalition.

In a related development, Daesh militants clashed with members of the Hashd al-Ashaeri -- a pro-government militia composed of Sunni-Arab tribal volunteers -- in the Al-Shura district some 45 kilometers south of Mosul, Army Lieutenant-Colonel Abdel Salam al-Jubouri told Anadolu Agency.

"Two terrorists were killed and our forces are now tracking down four or five others,” he said. “But the district is now entirely under the control of the Hashd al-Ashaeri.”

In February, Iraqi ground forces -- backed by U.S.-led coalition air power -- began fresh operations aimed at ousting Daesh militants from western Mosul, the terrorist group’s last bastion in northern Iraq.

The offensive is part of a wider campaign launched last October to retake the entire city, which Daesh overran in mid-2014.