Airstrike on Mosul Civilians Denounced

Iran condemned an airstrike on civilians at a school in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, stressing that the Iraqi nation will uproot terrorism in the near future. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi on Friday expressed condolences to the Iraqi nation over an airstrike that killed dozens of civilians at a disused school in western Mosul, Tasnim News Agency reported. He took a swipe at the sponsors of terrorist groups in the region and Iraq for their efforts to maintain a war of attrition in Mosul and lengthen the process of liberation of the city by the Iraqi Army, saying such obstructive measures would result in “anti-human crimes” like the recent killing of civilians in western Mosul. On Friday, the Iraqi military admitted bombing a disused school in western Mosul, but denied targeting civilians, saying the building was being used by the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group as a bomb factory. The army’s statement came a day after IS claimed that an air raid late on Thursday had killed 68 people sheltering in the building and wounded 86 others. The Iraqi Army did not confirm the number of casualties in the Thursday air raid, but said IS has used civilians as human shields in the past.