Rights group: Probe alleged airstrike on Iraq mosque

Internally displaced persons sit at a checkpoint as smoke rises from the burning oil wells in Qayyarah, about 31 miles (50 km) south of Mosul, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Islamic State fighters torched a sulfur plant south of Mosul, sending a cloud of toxic fumes into the air that mingled with oil wells the militants had lit on fire to create a smoke screen. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic) (The Associated Press)

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A member of Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces stands guard in the town of Bartella, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Iraqi forces captured Bartella, around 15 kilometers (9 miles) east of Mosul. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) (The Associated Press)

A statue of Virgin Mary is placed in a street in Bartella, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Iraqi forces captured Bartella, around 15 kilometers (9 miles) east of Mosul. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) (The Associated Press)

BAGHDAD – A rights group is urging a probe into a suspected airstrike in northern Iraq that killed at least 13 during last week's battles for Mosul.

Human Rights Watch said on Monday that the explosion struck the women's section of a Shiite mosque in the town of Daquq and appeared to have been caused by an airstrike.

Residents believe it was an airstrike because of the extent of the destruction and because planes were heard flying overhead. It happened on Friday amid a large Islamic State assault on the nearby city of Kirkuk.

The U.S.-led coalition battling IS and the Iraqi air force are the only parties known to be flying aircraft over the country. Both are engaged in the massive operation to take the Islamic State-held city of Mosul.