Thousands flee fighting
Iraqi forces push into western Mosul in operation to oust Islamic State fighters
MOSUL, Iraq — Thousands of civilians fled Mosul overnight as Iraqi forces advanced north of a sprawling military base near the city’s airport on Friday.
Iraq’s special forces pushed into the Wadi Hajar district in western Mosul and retook the area from Islamic State on Friday, according to Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, spokesman of the Joint Military Operations.
Special forces Brig. Gen. Haider al-Obeidi said clearing operations were ongoing in the area and his forces were close to linking up with the militarized federal police forces who were pushing up along the western bank of the Tigris river.
Iraqi forces, including special operations forces and federal police units, launched an attack on the western part of Mosul nearly two weeks ago to dislodge Islamic State. Since the offensive began, more than 28,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, according to the UN.
Nahla Ahmed, 50, fled Mosul late Thursday night, walking more than 5 km from her home in the Shuhada neighbourhood.
“All the families were hiding behind a wall,” she said, explaining how they escaped an Islamic Stateheld part of the city. “We gave the children valium so they wouldn’t cry and (the Islamic State fighters) wouldn’t catch us.”
Ahmed, like most of the civilians who have escaped Mosul in the past week, fled through the Mamun neighbourhood, which is partially controlled by Iraq’s special forces.
Maj. Saif Ali, who is stationed in Mamun, said huge crowds of civilians began pouring into the area just after midnight.
Ali said civilians in western Mosul are becoming increasingly desperate as food and water begin to run out.
“In total 7,000 people fled through this area last night,” he said. “We were up all night trying to control the crowds.”
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday “the latest figures we have of people recorded leaving western Mosul is 28,400 and that’s since operations in west Mosul started on Feb. 19. However we’re also tracking down reports thousands more people are on the move.”
He said that on average about 4,000 people a day have been fleeing since the beginning of the operation.
“We think about 750,000 civilians are still trapped inside western Mosul, either sheltering from the fighting or waiting to flee,” Dujarric said. “We’re deeply concerned with their wellbeing and safety and their access to vital resources.”
By late morning nearly all the families had been moved out of Mamun. The neighbourhood was littered with discarded clothing and blankets piled up in empty lots and on street corners.
Iraqi forces deployed east of Mamun advanced into Wadi Hajar, a neighbourhood north of the Ghazlani military base.
The U.S.-led coalition dropped more than 15 munitions in Mosul on Friday, Ali said, saying they targeted car bombs, sniper positions and Islamic State mortar units.
Brig. Gen. Wathaq al-Hamdani, Nineveh province’s police chief, said Islamic State targeted the Al Jazair District in western Mosul with “Katyusha launchers with missiles carrying chlorine gas” in at least two separate incidents over the past few days.
He added that five civilians had been taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for asphyxiation.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement Friday that seven patients likely exposed to a toxic chemical agent were currently being treated at Rozhawa hospital, close to Mosul, where fighting is ongoing.