UN fears 200 died in coalition airstrike on Mosul

The United Nations has raised grave concerns about 
reports of high civilian casualties in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

A senior UN official in Iraq said she was stunned by 
accounts of "terrible loss of life", after claims that at least 
200 people had been killed in an air strike by the US-led coalition.

US warplanes are supporting the Iraqi Army's mission
 to retake Mosul from the Islamic State (IS).

It is not known exactly when the deaths are alleged to 
have happened.

However, reporters in western Mosul's Jadideh neighbourhood said they saw 50 bodies being pulled out of buildings on Friday, after they were razed in air attacks 
earlier in March.

Iraqi forces have been waging a months-long offensive to
recapture Mosul, the last IS stronghold in Iraq, which has
 been occupied since 2014.

The New York Times quoted US military officials saying 
the coalition was investigating reports of civilian deaths 
from a strike between 17-23 March.

Colonel Joseph Scrocca, a spokesman for the US-led command in Baghdad, said that "the coalition has opened
 a formal civilian casualty credibility assessment on this allegation" from Mosul.

"This process takes time, though, especially when the date
 of the alleged strike is in question," he said.

The UN estimates that 400,000 Iraqi civilians are trapped
 in the Old City of Mosul as government forces battle to re-capture it.

More than 180,000 civilians have fled the west of the city
 in the past month, amid fears that an additional 320,000
 may follow in the coming weeks.

Residents who have managed to flee say the militants
 are using civilians as human shields, hiding in houses and forcing young men to fight.

US officials believe there are about 2,000 IS fighters left
 in Mosul.