Mosul,Iraq - Iraq's military said on
Sunday that 61 bodies were recovered from a collapsed building
that Islamic State had booby-trapped in west Mosul, but there
was no sign the building had been hit by a coalition air strike.
The military statement differed from reports by witnesses
and local officials that said as many as 200 bodies had been
pulled from the building after a coalition strike last week
targeted IS militants and equipment in the Jadida
district.
What happened on March 17 remains unclear and details are
difficult to confirm as Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State
to recapture the densely populated parts of the western half of
Mosul, the militant group's last stronghold in Iraq.
Iraqi forces on Sunday hit militant positions with
helicopter strikes, and exchanged heavy gunfire and rockets
around al Nuri mosque in west Mosul, where the Islamic State
leader declared his caliphate nearly three years ago.
One federal police officer said they had killed a militant
in a suicide vest trying to infiltrate their position, and
exchanged fire with two other fighters.
At the north edge of Mosul, Iraqi army divisions raided and
entered the Badush cement factory, to where militants had
retreated, Lt. Col. Ali Jassem of the 9th armoured division
said. Army units are clearing villages to the north.
As combat continues, the Jadida incident highlights the
complexity of fighting in west Mosul, where militants hide among
families, using them as shields and putting at risk as many as
half a million people still caught in Islamic State-held areas.
Thousands have already fled Mosul and coalition officials
and Iraq's Shi'ite-led government are wary of incidents that
could alienate residents of the mainly Sunni city and fuel the
kind of sectarian tensions that helped Islamic State's rise.
The U.S.-led coalition backing Iraqi forces on Saturday said
it carried out a strike on Islamic State militants and equipment
in the area of the reported deaths, and was investigating. It
did not give figures for any casualties or details of targets.
The Iraqi military command said witnesses had told troops
that the building was booby-trapped and militants had forced
residents inside basements to use them as shields. IS militants
had also fired on troops from houses, it said.
"A team of military experts from field commanders checked
the building where the media reported that the house was
completely destroyed. All walls were booby-trapped and there is
no hole that indicates an air strike," it said.
"Sixty-one bodies were evacuated," the statement said.
A coalition air strike had hit the area at the time though
there was no sign it struck that building, it said.
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS
The military casualty figure was lower than that given by
local officials. A municipal official said on Saturday that 240
bodies had been pulled from the rubble. A local lawmaker and two
witnesses say a coalition air strike may have targeted a large
truck bomb, triggering a blast that collapsed buildings.
Ghazwan al-Dawoodi, head of the local Nineveh governorate
human rights council, said his team had made a field visit and
that 173 people were killed after militants forced them into a
bunker, and then opened fire on gunships to prompt an airstrike.
Iraqi forces have retaken the east of Mosul and half of the
west, across the Tigris River that divides Iraq's second city.
Thousands of people are fleeing each day to escape the fighting
and increasingly difficult conditions.
Aid groups are scrambling to build more camps to cope with
the surge.
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights said that since the
campaign against western Mosul began on Feb. 19, unconfirmed
reports have said nearly 700 civilians have been killed by
government and coalition air strikes or Islamic State action.
The militants have used car bombs, snipers and mortar fire
to counter the offensive. They have also stationed themselves in
homes belonging to Mosul residents, from which they fire at
Iraqi troops, often drawing air or artillery strikes that have
killed civilians.