Airstrike kills 8 family members in Iraq's Mosul

By Sarhad Shakir and Mohamed Waleed

NINEVEH, Iraq (AA) – Eight members of the same family were killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike in western Mosul on Wednesday amid an ongoing offensive to oust Daesh terrorist group from the northern city.

Iraqi Army Lieutenant Colonel Abdul-Salam al-Jabouri said coalition warplanes carried out massive airstrikes on Daesh positions in western Mosul.

He said a Daesh factory for making explosives was targeted by one of the strikes.

According to witnesses, eight people were killed when a warplane struck their house in al-Refai district in western Mosul.

"The house was totally destroyed and the whole family was killed," one of the witnesses said, requesting anonymity due to security concerns.

There has been no comment from the Iraqi government or the U.S.-led coalition on the assertion.

Elsewhere, one civilian was killed and three others were injured when a mortar shell fired by Iraqi forces struck their house in al-Shefaa neighborhood in western Mosul.

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.