Tougher fighting, more suicide attacks as IS hits back in Mosul

MOSUL, Iraq: Iraqi forces are facing increasingly dif ficult fighting and a rising number of suicide attacks, including some by female bombers, in the final stages of the battle for Mosul, commanders said Monday.

Fol lowing recent suicide bombings by two girls, security forces in the Old City were seen ordering civilians to remove some of their clothing before approaching to guard against the threat.

More than eight months since the start of the operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group, the jihadists have gone from fully controlling the city to holding a limited area on its western side, but resistance is still tough.

“The fighting is becoming harder every day because of the nature of the Old City,” Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi, a commander in the elite Counter-Terrorism Service ( CTS), said of the area of narrow streets and closely spaced buildings where the end of the battle for Mosul is unfolding.

Iraqi forces have been closing in on the Old City in west Mosul for months, but the terrain combined with a large civilian population has made for an extremely difficult fight.

The same conditions that aid jihadist defences also serve to shield Iraqi forces from snipers, Assadi said, and “our losses are not to the level that would prevent us from advancing”.

The enemy has been using suicide bombers, especially women, for the past three days in some of the neighbourhoods. Before that, they were using snipers and bombs more. Staff Lieutenant General Sami al-Aridhi, top Counter-Terrorism Service commander

Staf f Lieutenant General Sami al- Aridhi, another top CTS commander, said IS had increased the number of suicide attacks it is carrying out.

“The enemy has been using suicide bombers, especial ly women, for the past three days in some of the neighbourhoods. Before that, they were using snipers and bombs more,” said Aridhi.

“Yesterday, four women blew themselves up... today there were two, and yesterday there were seventeen ( suicide bombers), including the four” women, he said.

“There a re st il l at least 2 0 0 f ighters from the ( IS) organisation” in Mosul, most of them foreigners, Aridhi said.

“The battle will end in five days to a week.”

CTS forces in the Old City ordered f leeing civi lians to remove some articles of clothing before approaching on Monday in an effort to detect suicide bombers.

Men were told to remove their shirts, while women had to take off veils covering their faces and hair, and flowing abaya robes.

The measure fol lowed two recent suicide bombings — one by a 14-year- old girl and another by a 12-year- old that killed three members of CTS, soldiers said.

Brigadier General Mohammed al- Jawari, the head of civi l defence in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, said the bodies of 50 people shot by IS had been recovered from a street in Al-Zinjili area in west Mosul.

The recovery of the bodies began on Sunday, following the recapture of a nearby medical complex in which IS had placed snipers who fired on the civilians, Jawari said.

Civilians fleeing the fighting are receiving treatment at a makeshift clinic in Mosul.

“People come from the Old City of Mosul, where fierce fighting is taking place. They’re running away from ( IS), running away from death, hunger and fear,” said Nazar Salih, a doctor at the clinic.

Shahed Omar, a 20- year- old who fled the Old City, pointed to two children at the clinic.

“This one’s father was killed, and that girl there, her father was killed as well,” Omar said. — AFP