Five-strong family killed as house explosion rocks Mosul city
An Iraqi family passes through a residential area devastated by the anti-Islamic State war
Nineveh (Iraqinews.com) – A five-strong family was killed Saturday after a bomb exploded at their home in Mosul city, a security source was quoted as saying.
“Five members from the same family were killed immediately after they entered their booby-trapped house in al-Zanjili district in western Mosul,” the source told Basnews website, adding that the family has just returned from displacement at al-Jadaa camp.
The source pointed out that the security forces “cordoned off the blast site and carried the victims to the forensic medicine department.”
Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The surge in violence between armed groups and government forces has resulted in over five million internally displaced persons across Iraq and left more than 11 million in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Last week, Iraqi security officials said that nearly 160.000 displaced Iraqi families have been repatriated to their home regions in Salahuddin province.
Brig. Gen. Yahia Rasoul, spokesman of the Security Media Center, said in a statement “the total number of those repatriated to Salahuddin province stood at 160339 until Tuesday.”
He noted that security forces continue their work purging recaptured areas to secure the return of civilians.