Daesh car bombs kill dozens in southeast Mosul

At least 30 people have been killed and 60 others injured in a series of car bomb attacks that hit the Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday.

According to reports, separate attacks targeted a stadium, an outdoor market as well as the al-Rahman grand mosque in the southeastern Kokceli neighborhood of Mosul around noon, a security source said.

Women and children were among the casualties of the attack which came as the Takfiri terrorists are losing ground in the face of operations by government forces and allied fighters to retake the city.

Pro-government fighters from Popular Mobilization Units, commonly known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi, as well as counter-terrorism personnel were among the wounded as well.

Earlier in the day, Iraqi government forces uncovered a cache of 120mm mortar shells and Katyusha rockets in the Shalalat area, located about seven kilometers northeast of Mosul.

Daesh terrorists were apparently using the munitions to launch attacks against security forces. Iraqi soldiers also found several military uniforms and compact disks at the site.

Additionally, Iraqi army troops found and defused 45 improvised explosive devices, which had been planted on the southern outskirts of Mosul to slow the advance of government troops and their allies.

The Iraqi Defense Ministry further said 70 Daesh terrorists had been killed during a string of airstrikes across the northern province of Nineveh, the chief city and capital of which is Mosul.

The ministry said the precise aerial attacks struck a gathering of the terrorists south of the Tal Abta region, leaving 20 senior terrorist commanders and 50 extremists dead.

SS