Int’l coalition airstrike kills 12 civilians in Mosul

NINEVEH, Iraq (AA) – At least 12 civilians were killed and another seven injured Saturday in a U.S.-led international coalition airstrike on a Daesh terrorist group car bomb in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, an army officer said.

A coalition airstrike hit an explosive-laden car in Rajm Hadid area in southern Mosul, Brigadier General Abdul-Ghani al-Hilali, an army officer, said.

The death toll includes women and children.

“Dealing with Daesh’s armed targets in the residential areas have become almost impossible to take place without civilian casualties,” al-Hilali said.

In mid-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.