A medic peeled blood-soaked bandages from the arm of a boy in the emergency room of a hospital in northern Iraq, revealing the full extent of the damage inflicted by an Islamic State mortar attack.
“Is something wrong with my hand?” the boy asked his father, who stood over the stretcher covering his son’s eyes to prevent him seeing the wound.
“It’s nothing, just a small wound,” replied the father, Abu Nidal, as the medic inspected the mangled remains of the boy’s hand, maimed beyond repair.
Around them were dozens of other civilians who have been wounded in areas of Mosul since they were retaken from Islamic State by Iraqi forces trying to dislodge the militants from their largest urban stronghold in Iraq.
The civilians say are not accidental victims caught in the crossfire and that Islamic State has been targeting them. – READ MORE
