13 killed, injured as 2 booby-trapped houses exploded in western Mosul
A bomb explosion. File photo.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Thirteen civilians were killed and wounded in two explosions of booby-trapped houses in western Mosul on Wednesday, a security source told Basnews.
Police captain, Amir Watheq, told Basnews that eight civilians were killed and five others were injured after returning to their booby-trapped houses in al-Najar area, west of Mosul, which was liberated two months ago.
“The two houses exploded as their owners entered them,” Watheq added, noting that the Islamic State (IS) had booby-trapped many houses in districts of western Mosul during clashes with security forces.
Security forces took the injured civilians to hospitals and prevented citizens from returning to areas that may have booby-trapped houses.
On July 10, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi declared, victory in the city of Mosul, ending an eight-month campaign backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary forces, which has displaced more than 900.000 civilians.
The victory in Mosul also means an effective collapse of the Islamic State’s self-styled “caliphate” declared from Mosul’s Old City by the group’s supreme leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State terror group who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.