Coalition warplanes killed 27 civilians in airstrikes in Iraq’s Mosul city on Saturday, an Iraqi doctor said.

Dr. Ahmed Raid al-Hamadani, an official with Mosul operations' mobile hospitals unit, told Anadolu Agency: “As far as we have learnt from eyewitnesses, a civilian convey of 10 vehicles was targeted by coalition forces in eastern part of Mosul, where ISIS has no connection.”

Al-Hamadani said at least 15 people were killed in the attack.

In a separate operation, coalition planes also hit Ibn al-Haysum, a civilian residential neighborhood in southeastern Mosul, killing 12 civilians, including women and children, he added.

The coalition operation command did not make any official statement regarding the allegations.

The Iraqi military, backed by U.S.-led coalition warplanes and local allies on the ground, is currently engaged in a major offensive aimed at ousting ISIS from Mosul, which the group overran in 2014.

Since the operation began last October, Iraqi forces have reportedly recaptured more than a quarter of Mosul, once considered Iraq’s second largest city in terms of population.

PHOTO CAPTION

Displaced Iraqis, fleeing villages, sit in a van, Iraq December 7, 2016. REUTERS

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