4 Iraqis killed by mortar fire in Mosul

By Ahmed Qasim

NINEVEH, Iraq

At least four civilians were killed on Sunday when mortar shells struck their homes in Daesh-held Mosul city in northern Iraq.

A medic at the Mosul Public Hospital said nine people were also injured, including two seriously, in the attack that targeted Mosul’s Qadisiya neighborhood.

The source, who spoke anonymously to Anadolu Agency due to security concerns, expected the death toll to rise as the hospital suffers a shortage of life-saving medicines.

Last month, the Iraqi army -- backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and local allies on the ground -- launched a wide-ranging operation aimed at retaking Mosul, which was overran by Daesh in mid-2014, along with vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq.

Recent months have seen the Iraqi army and its allies retake much territory from the terrorist group, especially on Mosul’s outskirts and in Iraq’s western Anbar province.