Displaced Iraqi children, who fled the violence around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, receive aid at the al-Khazer refugee camp some 40 kilometres east of Arbil, on January 31, 2017. / AFP / Mahmud SALEH
NINEVEH, Iraq: Hundreds of Iraqi civilians have fled "liberated" areas of eastern Mosul amid ongoing rocket attacks by Islamic State terrorists, according to local security sources.
"Hundreds of families have fled their homes in northeastern Mosul," Iraqi Police Brigadier-General Omran Mohamed told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
Over the past 72 hours, he said, Islamic State militants had launched numerous rocket barrages at the war-battered city’s eastern districts.
"A number of civilians have been killed and injured in the attacks," Mohamed asserted.
According to the police officer, the security situation in "liberated" parts of eastern Mosul has deteriorated sharply as a result of the attacks.
Meanwhile, Iraqi warplanes have carried out raids on Islamic State positions in the city’s western districts.
"We struck two structures used by Islamic State to house fighters and store food and fuel," Iraqi fighter pilot Daud al-Hashemi told Anadolu Agency.
A number of Islamic State militants have been killed in the strikes, he said, without providing exact numbers.
The Iraqi army, backed by U.S.-led coalition warplanes, is currently engaged in a wide-ranging offensive to retake Mosul, which Islamic State overran in mid-2014.
