Female suicide bombers attack Mosul
Women blend in with city’s fleeing civilians
MOSUL, Iraq — With the fight for Mosul in its final stage Monday, Islamic State militants sent female suicide bombers hidden among fleeing civilians, while Iraqi forces and the U.s.-led coalition unleashed punishing airstrikes and artillery fire that set dozens of buildings ablaze.
At least one Iraqi soldier was killed and five were wounded in two suicide attacks, the military said. On Sunday, a bomber in women’s clothing killed 14 people at a camp for displaced residents in Anbar province, a provincial official said. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
“These tactics don’t surprise me,” said Sgt. Ahmed Fadil, who patrolled Mosul’s Old City just 50 yards from the front.
While shops have reopened and civilian traffic fills streets in retaken neighborhoods, thick black smoke continued to rise just a few miles away from Is-held territory on the bank of the Tigris River that divides Iraq’s second-largest city. The area controlled by the militants is less than half a square mile.
Islamic State militants swiftly overran Mosul in 2014. The U.s.backed offensive to retake the city was launched in October and has proceeded slowly.
Even though the militants are squeezed into smaller and smaller territory, the danger remains for units like Fadil’s.
When they heard cries from civilians just around the corner, he and his colleagues rushed their commanding officer to safety into a nearby home that already had been cleared. They yelled at the group of sobbing women and children to hurry past.
Fadil explained the reason for their caution.
“They cry and then — boom! They explode themselves,” he said. “The closer we get to victory, the more suicide bombers they will send.”