US-led coalition says over 1,200 Iraqi personnel killed in Mosul operation

At least 1,200 Iraqi security personnel were killed during the operation to recapture Mosul from the Daesh, the US-led coalition against the terrorist group said on Friday.

"The October 2016 to July 2017 battle to liberate Mosul reflects a significant sacrifice by our Iraqi partners, who lost 1,200-1,500 personnel in action, with an approximate 8,000 more wounded," the coalition said in a statement.

It did not provide a breakdown of casualties among the various forces that took part in the grueling battle.

The July recapture of Mosul, a city that Daesh seized more than three years before, was the biggest defeat the group had been dealt since the war to push them back began.

Iraqi forces often release figures for Daesh fighters they say they have killed, but are extremely reticent about their own losses.

Daesh overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes and other support have since regained most of the territory they lost.

Civilians killed in Iraq and Syria

The coalition also confirmed on Friday that another 50 civilians had been killed in strikes in Iraq and Syria, raising the total number of civilians it has killed to 735 since the conflict began in 2014.

The statement added that during August, the coalition had assessed 185 reports of civilian casualties and found that the additional 50 deaths occurred in 14 incidents that it deemed were credible.

The coalition, battling to defeat Daesh in Iraq and Syria, says it goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties.

The military's official tally is far below those of outside organisations. 

The monitoring group Airwars says at least 5,486 civilians have been killed by coalition air strikes.