EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE: IS shells northeast Mosul quarter, injures children

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Islamic State (IS) on Wednesday shelled the neighborhood of al-Zahra in the northeast of Mosul city in Iraq, wounding many civilians in the area, according to Kurdistan24 correspondent Chakdar Jamal.

“The bombardment was via mortars that hit a location in Zahra where the civilians were trying to escape the area,” Jamal explained.

Additionally, Jamal mentioned the shelling wounded several civilians, most of them who were children.

“I tried to take one of the wounded children to an Iraqi forces vehicle to transfer her to a nearby hospital but, unfortunately, she died within the first seconds,” he stated.

“It was a heartbreaking moment,” Jamal continued. “They were all civilians and some of them were critically injured.”

The Kurdistan24 correspondent also mentioned due to the lack of ambulances in the area, the wounded people were transferred to nearby hospitals via military vehicles.

In June 2014, IS emerged in Iraq and began to control large swaths of territory in different provinces in the country.

Since then, the insurgent group has lost its grip on most of the areas it once controlled and continues to shrink.

On Oct. 17, Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi security forces launched an offensive to liberate the city of Mosul, IS’ last stronghold in Iraq.

The offensive is supported by US-led coalition warplanes who assist both Kurdish and Iraqi forces in defeating the extremists.

As the operation continues, thousands of civilians seek refuge in the Kurdistan Region which already houses nearly 1.8 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees from Iraq and Syria.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany