As offensive nears, Islamic State militants rig Mosul with ‘bombs’
Defences include explosives, suicide attackers
ERBIL/BAGHDAD, Oct 12, (RTRS): Islamic State militants have placed booby traps across the city of Mosul, dug tunnels and recruited children as spies in anticipation of an offensive to dislodge the jihadists from their Iraqi stronghold, Iraqis and US officials said.
Mosul, home to up to 1.5 million people, has been the headquarters of Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate in northern Iraq since 2014 and the militants are making complex preparations to prevent Iraqi security forces, backed by a USled coalition, taking it back.
The battle for the city, expected later this month, will help shape the future of Iraq and the legacy of US President Barack Obama. Even if Islamic State is driven out, there is a real danger of sectarian strife, especially if civilian casualties are high in a mainly Sunni city wary of the Shi-ite led Iraqi government and the Shi’ite militias it depends on.
The jihadists, who swept into Mosul almost unopposed two years ago as Iraqi forces fled, have rigged its five bridges with explosives, prepared car bombs and suicide attackers and stepped up surveillance, according to four residents who spoke via telephone or social media.
“They are digging in to fight for Mosul. They are more cautious, shaving their beards to blend in with the population and constantly movAl-Jaber
ing their headquarters around,” said former finance and foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari,
Zebari, a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party with access to intelligence on Islamic State movements in Mosul, and Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the US-led coalition, both said the group was moving men and equipment through underground tunnels.
“You see a fighter go in one place and pop up in another,” said Dorrian. “The entrances are always exposed
and those are a priority target.”
Islamic State fighters have put up concrete embankments and are using concrete T-walls to block points of entry for the attacking force, he said. Mosul residents said the militants have also dug a two metre by two metre trench around the perimeter of the city to be filled with burning oil to make air strikes more difficult.
Aid groups have expressed concern over the prospect that many civilians could be killed in the fighting. About 200,000 people are expected to flee
within the first two weeks of fighting, said Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq.
Reuters was unable to directly verify the reports of Islamic State’s battle preparations. This story is based on interviews with US and Iraqi officials such as Zebari and Dorrian and phone interviews with civilians in Mosul.
The planned coalition attack is part of a concerted assault that has reclaimed territory from IS in Syria, Iraq and Libya.