MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. US-led coalition has increased the intensity of air strikes in the area of Mosul, the chief of the main operations directorate of Russia’s General Staff, Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi, told a news briefing on Friday.

"There has been growing intensity of air strikes by the coalition, including those involving strategic bombers B-52. These planes attack vast areas, so civilian casualties will be growing," Rudskoi warned.

School bombing

According to Rudskoi, a US aircraft has bombed a school in the town of Tel Keppe, less than 14 kilometers (8 miles) north of the Iraqi city of Mosul, resulting in casualties.

"On October 24, a warplane of the US Air Force’s tactical aviation carried out a missile and bomb strike on the building of a school in the town of Tel Keppe. In the strike some were killed and wounded," the official said.

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry said on October 21, a US war plane delivered an airstrike on the al-Hajj Yunus school for girls in southern Mosul. The next day civilian dwelling areas in the town of Qaraqosh 20 kilometers east of Mosul and Hazna 15 kilometers east of Mosul came under massive bombing raids. 

Residential area bombing

On October 23, the US Air Force delivered a strike with no less than five guided missiles at a residential quarter in the city of Ash-Shura, Iraq.

A photo demonstratingt the Ash-Shura residential quarters before and after the U.S. Air Force strike on October 23 was shown at the briefing. "No less than five guided missiles were launched at the houses and six building received serious damage," the general said.

He promised that all the materials and results of decoding available to the Russian side will be provided to the media.

"We hope the US will fulfill its promise and will hold an objective investigation of these military crimes," Rudskoi said.

The Russian Defense Ministry will continue to make public more detailed information regarding indiscriminate air strikes by the coalition and objective monitoring data, he said.

Mosul is Iraq’s second largest city with a population of 1.3 million. For more than two years it has been under the control of the Islamic State (terrorist organization outlawed in Russia). The Iraqi army’s ground operation aimed at regaining control of Mosul began in the morning of October 17. Kurdish militias and the international anti-terrorist coalition are taking part.