"Kurdish intelligence believes that over 40,000 civilians have been killed as a result of massive firepower used against them, especially by the federal police, air strikes and Isis itself," the newspaper quoted Kurdish politician Hoshyar Zebari, who grew up in Mosul and used to serve as Iraqi foreign and finance ministers, as saying.
Mosul residents were killed in attacks launched both by the militants and Iraqi forces as well as by airstrikes, the politician added.
On July 11, Amnesty International issued a report saying that Iraqi forces and US-led coalition were involved in killing and injuring civilians and destroying civilian objects instead of striking military targets. The battle for western Mosul, according to the report, led to a civilian catastrophe in the city and the true death toll may never be known.
On July 9, Iraqi Prime Minster Haider Abadi declared the victory of the Iraqi forces in Mosul. The city was a key and symbolic stronghold of IS, which controlled the area since 2014. The operation to liberate the city was launched in October 2016.
