50 killed in clashes between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Fifty people were killed in fighting between Iraqi government forces and Islamic State insurgents in the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday, hospital officials said.

Witnesses said the dead had been held in a makeshift prison created by the Sunni Islamist militants that was bombed by government aircraft. That could not be immediately confirmed. Government officials were not immediately available for comment.

Mosul has been under insurgent control since June, but there have been hit and run attacks by government forces and allied Kurdish peshmerga fighters.

In the capital Baghdad on Wednesday, car bombs exploded in crowded markets in Shi’ite Muslim districts, killing at least 10 people, police said.

(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Mark Heinrich)