Iraq pushes into town near Mosul
BARTELLA (iraq) — Iraqi forces pushed into a town near the Daeshheld city of Mosul on Saturday after a wave of militant attacks in and around the northern city of Kirkuk set off more than 24 hours of heavy clashes, with ongoing skirmishes in some areas.
US Defence Secretary Ash Carter meanwhile arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit to meet with Iraqi commanders to discuss the offensive to retake Mosul, which the US is supporting with airstrikes and advisers on the ground.
The Iraqi army said the 9th Division has pushed into the town of Hamdaniyah, known as Qaraqosh and Bakhdida, and raised the flag over its central government compound, but the troops were likely still facing resistance in and around the town. Similar past announcements have often proved premature.
Two officers from the 9th Division confirmed troops had captured the government compound and raised the flag over it. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
The town is around 20km from Mosul. Iraqi forces launched a widescale offensive earlier this week aimed at retaking Mosul, the country’s second largest city, which fell to Daesh in 2014.
Hamdaniyah is believed to be largely uninhabited. The Daesh has heavily mined the approaches to Mosul, and Iraqi forces have had to contend with roadside bombs, snipers and suicide truck bombs as they move closer to the city.
Iraqi forces retook the town of Bartella, around 15km east of Mosul, earlier this week, but are still facing pockets of resistance in the area.
The Daesh terrorists launched a rocket and opened fire on an Iraqi convoy near the town on Saturday, and the Iraqi special forces in the convoy returned fire. No one was wounded in the exchange, but it highlighted the dangers Iraqi forces face in areas that have recently been retaken from the militants.
Inside Bartella, a road extending more than 100 meters was completely demolished, with all the homes on either side reduced to rubble. The Daesh graffiti was scrawled across the walls, and the militants appeared to have renamed streets and neighbourhoods after famous fighters during the more than two years they controlled the area.
The area around the provincial headquarters, where the fighting was heaviest on Friday, was quiet. But witnesses said there were clashes in the Asra wa Mafkudin neighbourhood, where two Daesh fighters were killed on Saturday. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
Col. Redah Sheikh Latif of the Kurdish peshmerga forces in Kirkuk confirmed there were ongoing skirmishes between Daesh snipers and security forces in the neighbourhood, but said the situation was contained. He said there was also some ongoing fighting in the suburb of Wara Tappa.
On Friday the militants killed 13 workers, including four Iranians, at a power plant north of Kirkuk, and a local TV reporter was killed by a sniper in the city. It was not clear if there were other casualties among civilians or the Kurdish security forces who control Kirkuk. Iraq launched a long-awaited operation on Monday aimed at retaking Mosul, its second largest city, which fell to Daesh in 2014. It is the largest operation undertaken by Iraqi forces since the 2003.