Falluja hospital hit by government shelling

A hospital in the Iraqi city of Falluja was hit by shelling from the Iraqi army on Sunday, a day after Premier Haider al-Abadi ordered Iraqi air-forces to halt strikes on civilian areas in their fight against the Islamic State (IS), who are in control of the city.

One member of staff was seriously injured in the shelling, according to the BBC.

Human Rights Watch has called for an investigation into another airstrike on a school near Tikrit, which killed 31 civilians two weeks ago.

The rights group says survivors report there were no militants or military equipment at the school.

Human Rights Watch special adviser Fred Abrahams said the Islamic State group "is incredibly brutal, but that is no excuse for what the Iraqi government is doing."

Abrahams called for Iraq's allies "to put pressure on Baghdad to stop this kind of violence."

Meanwhile a conference to combat the group opened in Paris earlier today. 30 countries are taking part at the summit of foreign ministers, who pledged to help Iraq fight IS "by any means necessary".

Iraq’s President Fuad Masum, who co-hosted the conference, said the international community must pursue the jihadists wherever they were.

He told Europe 1 radio: "They must intervene quickly because they are late. If this intervention and support to Iraq is late, that means that Islamic State could occupy more territory and the threat it poses will be even bigger."

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