Iraqi troops converge on Mosul to drive out Daesh
U.S.-led advances destroy tunnels used to launch attacks in densely populated areas
BAGHDAD— Iraqi troops fired automatic weapons at positions held by Daesh in and around the northern city of Mosul on Thursday, but did not advance as they regroup and clear neighbourhoods once occupied by the jihadis.
In Mosul proper, where troops have a foothold in a sliver of territory in the city’s east, the special forces control the Zahra neighbourhood, once named after former dictator Saddam Hussein, military officials said.
They have taken at least half of the Aden neighbourhood and clashes were still ongoing there, while the regular army’s ninth division is stationed in east Mosul’s Intisar neighbourhood, they added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief reporters. Skirmishes also continued in the city’s southern outskirts.
Col. John Dorrian, a spokesperson for the U.S.-led forces operating the key air campaign against Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, said that advancing troops and aircraft have destroyed some 70 tunnels the jihadis had been using to launch attacks from inside densely populated areas.
“They’ve set up elaborate defences, and we have to assume they’ll do anything among the civilian population because they don’t care about anyone,” he said, noting that airstrikes had hit hundreds of Daesh positions in the three-week Mosul campaign.
Iraqi troops are converging from several fronts on Mosul, the country’s second largest city and the last major Daesh holdout in Iraq. Kurdish peshmerga forces are holding a line outside the city in the north, while Iraqi army and militarized police units approach from the south, and government-sanctioned Shiite militias are guarding the western approaches.
The offensive has slowed in recent days as the special forces, the troops who have advanced the farthest, push into more densely populated areas of the city’s east, where they cannot rely as much on airstrikes and shelling because of the risk posed to civilians who have been told to stay in their homes.
Over 34,000 people have been displaced in the fighting and are settling in camps and host communities in nearby provinces. Troops are trying to screen the crowds for potential Daesh fighters attempting to sneak out among the civilians, and some have admitted to meting out what they consider swift justice, by executing them.
To the northeast, about 13 kilometres from the city, Peshmerga continued to take territory in the town of Bashiqa, believed to be largely deserted except for dozens of Daesh fighters. They’ve have had the town surrounded for weeks, and have assaulted it with mortar and artillery fire.
In Baghdad, meanwhile, bombings killed at least ten people and wounded 38 others, according to police and medical officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
The capital has seen near-daily bombings since the Mosul operation began, but no large-scale attacks. Daesh frequently targets Iraq’s security forces and Shiite majority as part of its campaign to destabilize the country.