A fire engulfed a newly opened shopping center in eastern Iraq, killing more than 60 people, including children, Iraqi officials said Thursday.

A massive fire tore through a five-storey shopping mall in eastern Iraq’s al-Kut city, killing at least 60 people and leaving 11 missing. The blaze erupted overnight, trapping shoppers and staff as flames engulfed the building.

A fire tore through a shopping mall in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut on Thursday, killing more than 50 people, medical sources told AFP. “We have more than 50 martyrs and many unidentified bodies,” a medical source said.

Following the Israeli strikes on Syria' capital, Damascus, our verification specialists are assessing the damage A fire that tore through a shopping centre in the Iraqi city of Kut has left dozens dead,

Video circulating online showed flames engulfing a five-storey building in the city of Al-Kut, with ambulances delivering casualties to hospitals until the early hours of Thursday.