Iraqi forces engage in street warfare in west Mosul to cut casualties

Displaced Iraqis flee their homes as Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State militants, in western Mosul, Iraq March 25, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

The military decision came "to refute the lies claimed by the terrorist gangs of Daesh (IS militant group) after it portrayed the innocents whom they killed as victims of the bombing of the heroic Iraqi forces in order to mislead public opinion," al-Sabah quoted sources from the Iraqi military command as saying.

The remaining IS-held neighborhoods in western Mosul will be liberated mainly by fighters highly trained on fighting in populated neighborhoods to "protect the unarmed civilians, who are used by terrorists as human shields in order to slow down the advance of the security forces," the newspaper said.

Media reports said hundreds of civilians were buried under the debris of their houses by heavy bombardments of US-led coalition and Iraqi aircraft during the past few days.

Mohammed Abd-Rabbah, a member of parliament from Mosul, told Xinhua that many families would shelter in a basement at a big house in the neighborhood of Mosul al-Jadida, or New Mosul in English, but the house and its surroundings were bombed by warplanes, killing some 137 civilians, most of them women and children.

After recapturing the neighborhood, civil defense teams pulled out some 200 bodies of civilians after clearing the demolished houses in only two streets in the densely-populated Mosul al-Jadida, according to the lawmaker.

Abd-Rabbah also said IS militants prevent civilians from leaving their homes, using them as human shields and their houses to fight security forces.

Late on Friday night, the United Nations expressed concerns about reports of civilian casualties in Mosul, and urged the parties of the conflict to avoid such casualties.

"We are stunned by this terrible loss of life and wish to express our deepest condolences to the many families who have reportedly been impacted by this tragedy," a UN statement quoted Lise Grande, the humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, as saying.