FALLUJA: Iraqi government air strikes killed 19 people, including children, in Falluja on Monday and Tuesday, a health official in the militant-held city said. The Iraqi army has been shelling Falluja, 70 km (44 miles) west of Baghdad, for months, trying to drive out the Sunni militants from the group now known as Islamic State. The insurgents, backed by discontented local Sunni tribal leaders, overran the city in January.
Ahmed al-Shami, a spokesman for the Falluja health office - the local arm of the health ministry — said the 19 dead included women and children and that Falluja hospital had also received 38 wounded people since Monday evening. Residents of Falluja and the nearby town of Garma said helicopters fired artillery and dropped three barrel bombs on Falluja and two on Garma Reuters
