MOSUL, Iraq—Iraq’s military said on Sunday that 61 bodies were recovered from a collapsed building that ISIS had booby-trapped in west Mosul, but there was no sign the building had been hit by a coalition air strike.
The military statement differed from reports by witnesses and local officials that said as many as 200 bodies were pulled from the building after a coalition strike last week targeted ISIS militants and equipment in the Jadida district.
What happened on March 17 remains unclear and details are difficult to confirm as Iraqi forces battle with ISIS to recapture the densely populated parts of the western half of Mosul, the militant group’s last stronghold in Iraq.
Eyewitnesses on Sunday described horrific scenes from the March 17 blast, with body parts strewn over rubble, residents trying desperately to pull out survivors and other people buried out of reach.
“We felt the earth shaking as if it was an earthquake. It was an airstrike that targeted my street. Dust, shattered glass and powder were the only things my wife, myself and three kids were feeling,” said one Jadida resident, Abu Ayman.
