Iraqi Kurdish forces advance on Mosul
• Kurdish fighters exchanged heavy fire with militants on Monday as they entered a town held by ISIL east of Mosul, while troops advancing south of the city discovered a mass grave containing some 100 decapitated bodies.
The offensive to reclaim the town of Bashiqa is part of the broader push to drive ISIL out of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, relieving those living under its occupation from the type of brutality, such as mass killings, that the group has committed.
ISIL militants have carried out a series of massacres since seizing large swaths of southern and central Iraq in the summer of 2014, often documenting them with photos and videos circulated online. On Monday, Iraqi soldiers advancing into the town of Hamam al-Alil, south of Mosul, discovered a pit containing dozens of decapitated skeletal remains, the military’s Joint Military Command said.
The offensive to retake Bashiqa began at dawn with a Kurdish barrage of heavy artillery, Katyusha rockets and mortar rounds slamming into ISIL positions, providing cover for the advance of armoured columns.
Smoke rose from the town throughout the day, with large explosions sending dark clouds into the sky.
“We have the co-ordinates of their bases and tunnels, and we are targeting them from here in order to weaken them so that our forces can reach their targets more easily,” said Iraqi Kurdish commander Brig.-Gen. Iskander Khalil Gardi.
Bashiqa, which is believed to be largely deserted except for dozens of ISIL fighters, is about 13 kilometres northeast of Mosul’s outskirts and about 20 kilometres from the city centre. Iraqi government and Kurdish forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and joined by governmentsanctioned militias, are fighting to drive ISIL out of those surrounding areas and open additional fronts to attack Mosul itself.
Bashiqa has been surrounded by Kurdish peshmerga for weeks but Monday’s push appeared to be the most serious yet to drive ISIL from the town.
Kurdish forces launched mortar rounds and fired heavy artillery into the town Sunday in advance of the offensive. More artillery and air strikes hit the town early Monday as the Kurdish forces’ advance got underway.
On Mosul’s southern front, meanwhile, Iraqi soldiers advancing into Hamam al-Alil, some 20 kilometres from the city centre, discovered a mass grave late Monday containing some 100 decapitated bodies near the town’s agricultural college. Most were reduced to skeletons, said Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, the spokesman for the Joint Military Command.