16 civilians killed in Iraqi airstrike

No fewer than 16 civilians were killed on Friday in an airstrike by a government jet in Iraq’s restive western province of Anbar, a local medical official has said.

The official told newsmen on condition of anonymity that no fewer than 19 others were wounded in the strike that targeted a house in the town of Ratba.

He also said that most casualties were children and women.

Earlier this month, government troops, backed by Shiite paramilitaries, started a military offensive to dislodge the Islamic State extremist militia from Anbar, a mostly Sunni province.

The radical Sunni group also ruled vast swathes in northern Iraq as well as neighbouring Syria.

There was no government comment on Friday’s airstrike.