RELIGION

IS mortars kill 16 Iraqi civilians in Mosul

Associated Press
Published | Updated

An Iraqi soldier fires a mortar shell against the Islamic State militants, in the Samah front line neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Friday Nov. 25, 2016. Iraqi special forces fought house to house in Mosul, while focusing efforts on winning hearts and minds among civilians and gleaning information about Islamic State militants holed up in buildings sometimes just a block away.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (The Associated Press)

Iraqi special forces soldiers patrol in the Bakr front line neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Friday Nov. 25, 2016. Iraqi special forces fought house to house in Mosul, while focusing efforts on winning hearts and minds among civilians and gleaning information about Islamic State militants holed up in buildings sometimes just a block away. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (The Associated Press)

Iraqi soldier cover their ears during a mortar shell against Islamic State militants, in the Samah front line neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Friday Nov. 25, 2016. Iraqi special forces fought house to house in Mosul, while focusing efforts on winning hearts and minds among civilians and gleaning information about Islamic State militants holed up in buildings sometimes just a block away.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (The Associated Press)

Iraqi military and hospital officials say mortar rounds fired by Islamic State militants have killed 16 civilians in neighborhoods already retaken by troops.

They said the bodies of the 16, killed overnight and early on Saturday, have been brought to military hospitals in eastern Mosul.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

In Mosul, an Associated Press team in eastern Mosul on Saturday says scores of civilians are continuing to stream out of the inner neighborhoods of the city to escape the fighting, making their way to camps for the displaced.

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, says at least 73,000 Iraqis have fled Mosul since the government's campaign to retake the city began on Oct. 17.