World Bulletin / News Desk

Three members of the same family were killed and five others injured in a bomb explosion south of Mosul in northern Iraq.

The blast struck as the victims were trying to flee the ISIL-held city, army officer Mohammed al-Bayyati said.

“Two women and a four-year old child were killed and five other family members injured in the bombing,” he said.

According to al-Bayyati, the victims had been forcibly displaced by ISIL extremists from their homes in al-Houd village, south of Mosul.

The village was recaptured by Iraqi forces earlier this week as part of a major anti-ISIL offensive to recapture Mosul from the extremist group.

“The victims were trying to return to their homes in the village when the explosion struck,” al-Bayyati said.

Last week, the Iraqi army, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, launched a much-anticipated offensive to retake Mosul, the last ISIL stronghold in northern Iraq.

ISIL captured Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in mid-2014 before overrunning large swathes of territory in the country’s northern and western regions.

Recent months have seen the Iraqi army, backed by local allies on the ground and a U.S.-led air coalition, retake much territory seized by ISIL in 2014. Nevertheless, the extremist group remains in control of several parts of the country, including Mosul.

In recent weeks, the army and its allies have staged a gradual advance on the city, which officials in Baghdad have vowed to recapture by year’s end.