Dozens of residents were buried in collapsed buildings in the Iraqi city of Mosul after an airstrike against Islamic State triggered a massive explosion last week and rescuers are still recovering bodies, civil defense agency officials and locals said on Thursday.
The exact cause of the collapses was not clear, but a local lawmaker and two local residents said airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition targeting Islamic State militants may have detonated a truck filled with explosives, destroying buildings in a heavily populated area.
Civil Defense chief Brigadier Mohammed Al-Jawari told local reporters that rescue teams were retrieving bodies from under the debris in the Mosul Jadida district near Rahma hospital, the site of heavy fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State.