IS terrorises Mosul civilians as Iraqi forces advance

MOSUL, Iraq: Iraqi forces advanced in west Mosul Tuesday, closing in on the Old City where jihadists executed civilians in a desperate bid to prevent an exodus and hold on to their stronghold.

The elite Counter-Terrorism Service retook full control of Tenek – one of the largest neighbourhoods in west Mosul – further tightening the noose on the Islamic State group.

“It used to be one of the main strongholds for terrorist groups,” Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al- Saadi, a top CTS commander, told AFP in Mosul.

The elite forces have been spearheading a massive offensive launched in mid- October 2016 to retake Mosul, the country’s second city and the last major Iraqi bastion of the jihadists’ now crumbling ‘caliphate’.

The eastern side of the city, which is divided by the Tigris river, was recaptured in January, and a push on the west bank of Mosul launched the following month has made steady progress despite fierce resistance.

“More than 20 car bombs were destroyed, dozens of terrorist militants were killed. Their bodies are still on the streets and inside houses,” said Saadi.

Only a few hundred IS fighters are believed to remain in west Mosul, most of them hunkering down in the Old City among several hundred thousand trapped civilians. Iraqi forces have retaken neighbourhoods to the south, west and north of the Old City, tightening the noose around IS before a high-risk final assault.

The narrow streets of the Old City and its population density will force the Iraqi forces to conduct perilous dismounted operations which observers fear could yet allow holdout jihadists to stage a protracted last stand. — AFP