Violence in Iraq: 38 killed in battles with gunmen
“Thirty-eight people were killed and 15 others injured in fierce battles on Sunday in the Iraqi city of Mosul, the capital of Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh.”
A provincial police source said sporadic clashes, bomb explosions and airstrikes continued since the early hours of Sunday in Mosul.
It was the third day of such incidents, as Iraqi security forces fight insurgent groups.
Mosul is situated some 400 kilometres north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
Some of the insurgent groups are believed to have linkages with the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, an al-Qaeda breakaway group in Iraq.
The group is seizing several neighbourhoods in the western part of the city, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Sunday battles left some 30 militants killed, including five snipers.
The police source however did not give further details about the casualties among the security forces.
Since Friday’s early hours, bloody clashes have continued between the Iraqi security forces and hundreds of gunmen who took control of several neighbourhoods in the western part of the city.
Iraqi forces managed to regain control of some neighbourhoods, but battles are still underway in others.
