Several killed, many injured in ISIS strike on Mosul

Several people were killed and dozens were injured in a Mosul neighbourhood on Sundayafter ISISmortar bombs fell in a residential area.

The number of victims of the attack could not be immediately confirmed.

Some of those injured in the attack were rushed to a hospital in Erbil, more than an hour away from the site of the attack.

• Iraqi forces resume fight to retake Mosul from ISIS
• Mosul civilians being targeted by ISIS, says Human Rights Watch
• Three suicide car bombs hit Mosul market, killing at least 15 civilians

Relatives waited anxiously as their loved ones received treatments for their injuries.

"I am a street vendor, I sell cigarettes. At 9 a.m., my son and some kids from the neighbourhood went out to play, when suddenly a mortar fell on them. Two of his friends were killed, they were children and they are gone. One of them was an only child," saidQutaibaZuhair.

"My son was injured along with his friends."

The U.S.-backed assault on Mosul, thelast major stronghold ISIS has in Iraq, was launched by a 100,000-strong alliance of local forces on Oct. 17.

It has become the biggest military operation in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The second phase of the campaign launched on Thursdayfollowing weeks of deadlock has pushed ISIS out of several more areas despite fierce resistance.

Authorities do not release figures for civilian or military casualties, but medical officials say dozens of people are wounded each day in the battle for Mosul.