By Mohamed Waleed and Ibrahim Salih

NINEVEH, Iraq

At least nine people were killed Tuesday in a spate of Daesh attacks in army-held areas of eastern Mosul, according to military officials.

A Daesh-controlled drone fired a rocket into a group of schoolchildren in the Karaj al-Shamal area, killing two of them, Army Brigadier-General Abdul-Mahdi al-Ameri told Anadolu Agency.

Another three people were killed when a second Daesh drone dropped a bomb in the eastern part of the city, he said.

And four others were killed in drone attacks -- including one child -- in Mosul’s eastern Al-Nur and East Nineveh areas, al-Ameri said.

Tuesday’s attacks came on the third day of a major Iraqi army offensive aimed at capturing Daesh’s last strongholds in western Mosul.

The offensive comes as part of a wider operation launched last October to retake Mosul, which Daesh overran in mid-2014.