US launches airstrike on Mosul hospital used by ISIS, military says

The US-led coalition has conducted an airstrike on a hospital building in Mosul after Iraqi forces fell under fire coming from the complex and requested support

 Iraqi soldiers stand near a fire on the main road from Erbil to Mosul on Wednesday (Photo: AP)
Iraqi soldiers stand near a fire on the main road from Erbil to Mosul on Wednesday (Photo: AP)

The US military has deliberately conducted an airstrike on a hospital in the Iraqi city of Mosul, it said on Wednesday, after saying its Iraqi allies came under fire by Islamic State fighters from the hospital complex.

US Central Command (Centcom) said it launched a “precision strike” on a building within the al-Salem hospital complex from which ISIS fighters had for more than a day launched “heavy” machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire on Iraqi forces.

According to the Guardian, the coalition did not say if any patients or civilians were present at the scene of the airstrike on the “building on the hospital complex” nor did it answer a question about any non-combatants being killed or wounded.

It is also reportedly unclear if the strike ended the described threat from ISIS fighters at al-Salem hospital, on the east side of the besieged city.

US and Iraqi fighters have battled for weeks  to regain control of Mosul, Iraq’s second city, Isis’s last major redoubt in the country.