The battle to recapture west Mosul in Iraq from the clutches of Islamic State (IS) has created a "civilian catastrophe", a report has warned.
Amnesty International said the terror group "ruthlessly exploited" civilians, who have also been "subjected to relentless and unlawful attacks" by Iraqi forces and the US-led coalition, which includes Britain.
The human rights organisation's report covers the first five months of the year and comes days after a declaration by the Iraqi government of a "total victory" over the extremists in the city.
Findings within "At Any Cost, The Civilian Catastrophe in West Mosul" claim Iraqi forces and the US-led coalition seem to have carried out "disproportionate" attacks, "killing and injuring thousands" of trapped civilians and destroying homes and infrastructure.
It states the operation to retake the west of the city, which began in February this year, appears to show Iraqi forces and the coalition committing "repeated violations of international humanitarian law", some of which "may amount to war crimes".
Amnesty said Iraqi forces and the coalition failed to adapt to the environment IS had created in west Mosul, which saw large numbers of civilians moved into combat zones and used as human shields by the group's fighters.
"Instead, pro-government forces launched barrages of indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks using explosive weapons unsuitable for such a densely populated urban area," the report states.
It also claims that Iraqi forces and the coalition replied upon "imprecise" weapons and ignored the "ever-growing toll of civilian death and injuries".
Amnesty said some of the weapons used by the US-led coalition and Iraqi forces include an "array" of air-to-surface weapons such as missiles, air-dropped bombs and cannon shells fired from fixed winged planes.
Missiles, rockets, cannon shells and machine gun ammunition were also fired from attack helicopters, alongside mortars fired from the ground.
The human rights organisation said there was a "marked change of tactics" used in the operation to recapture the west of the city, compared with those used to recapture the east.
Carried out from October last year to January this year, it states that "air strikes in east Mosul were generally against pre-selected targets and not in support of front-line fighting".
Lynn Maalouf, research director for the Middle East at Amnesty, said: "The scale and gravity of the loss of civilian lives during the military operation to retake Mosul must immediately be publicly acknowledged at the highest levels of government in Iraq and states that are part of the US-led coalition."
Amnesty's report also cited serious abuses carried out by IS fighters, which includes crimes such as civilians being rounded up, moved into conflict zones and used as human shields.
"During the battle for west Mosul, IS has flagrantly violated fundamental rules of international humanitarian law," the report states.
"The armed group then prevented civilians from evacuation, in some cases trapping them inside their homes by welding their doors shut or rigging the entrances with booby traps.
"IS also summarily killed hundreds if not thousands of men, women and children as they attempted to flee and hanged their bodies in public areas."
The report states that as the battle for the west of the city intensified and IS lost territory, the areas the group controlled became increasingly crowded with civilians.
It said those trapped by the fighters were regularly denied medical care, alongside acute shortages of food and water, and could often only escape directly through the front lines of battle.
Amnesty is now calling for Iraqi and coalition forces to "immediately end the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated area".
It also called for independent and transparent investigations into the allegations of violations of international humanitarian law, by both the Iraqi government and the US-led coalition.
In response to the report, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "As operations to defeat Daesh in Iraq and Syria intensify, the RAF continues to provide precision close air support to ground forces engaged in difficult urban combat.
"We conduct detailed assessments after each strike and review information from organisations such as Airwars and we have not seen evidence that we have been responsible for civilian casualties so far.
"Through our rigorous targeting processes we will continue to seek to minimise the risk of civilian casualties, but that risk can never be removed entirely."