Iraqi troops face waves of IS attacks as fresh offensive is launched in Mosul
IRAQI troops came under a wave of attacks from IS militants as they launched a new offensive in Mosul.
Major General Haider al-Maturi, of the Federal Police Commandos Division, said IS militants dispatched at least six suicide car bombs, which were all destroyed before reaching the troops, as they edged closer to a government complex in the west of the city.
He said militants were also moving from house to house and deploying snipers in heavy clashes with troops.
The Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV aired live footage showing thick black smoke amid a heavy exchange of fire.
The attack, which came after thousands of civilians had already fled the fighting, came as the United Nations warned that the alleged use of chemical weapons in Mosul, if confirmed, would be a war crime and a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
The alleged attack happened in eastern Mosul, an area declared fully liberated by Iraqi forces in January.
The attack hit a neighbourhood along the Tigris River, which roughly divides the city in two.
Doctors in an urgent care hospital in the nearby city of Irbil say they began receiving patients showing symptoms of chemical weapons Thursday.
“The mortar hit our house, right inside the living room where we were sitting,” said Nazim Hamid, whose children had burns to their faces, arms and legs.
The family was being treated in the Irbil hospital. exposure on
“There was a very bad smell, it was some kind of gas,” he said. “My kids were affected, some of them were burned and some of them had difficulty breathing.”
Hussein Qader, the deputy director of the hospital, said all 10 patients admitted for exposure are in stable condition and will be discharged in the coming days.
IS has used chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria at least 52 times according to a report published late last year by IHS conflict monitor, a London-based research and intelligence gathering group.
The report said that at least 19 of the 52 attacks took place in and around Mosul.