Thousands flee Mosul fighting

MOSUL: Conflicting accounts emerged on Sunday about an explosion in Iraq’s Mosul a week ago after a US-led coalition strike against IS that local officials say collapsed buildings, killing and burying many people. Iraq’s military said 61 bodies had been recovered from a destroyed building that IS had booby-trapped in west Mosul, but that there was no sign the building had been hit by a coalition air strike. The military statement differed from reports by witnesses and local officials that said many more bodies were pulled from the building after a coalition strike targeted IS and equipment in the Jadida district. Ninevah provincial governor’s health directorate said on Sunday 160 bodies had been officially buried after they were recovered from the site. — AFP