&nbsp;National Conference leader Omar Abdullah today said it was &quot;unpardonable&quot; that the families of 39 Indians, killed in captivity in Iraq, had to learn about their heartbreaking loss from television channels instead of the government.

&quot;Nothing Govt of India says can make up for the sheer heartlessness displayed today. Using Parliament as an excuse for the families of 39 dead Indians having to learn of their heartbreaking loss from TV channels is unpardonable (sic),&quot; Omar said in a tweet.

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Nothing Govt of India says can make up for the sheer heartlessness displayed today. Using Parliament as an excuse for the families of 39 dead Indians having to learn of their heartbreaking loss from TV channels is unpardonable.
&mdash; Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) <a href="https://twitter.com/OmarAbdullah/status/976051772283334656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
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All the 39 Indians, who were abducted by the ISIS in Iraq nearly three years ago, were killed and their bodies have been recovered, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said today.

As many as 40 Indians were originally abducted by the terrorist organisation from Mosul in Iraq but one of them escaped by posing as a Muslim from Bangladesh, Swaraj said in a suo motu statement in Rajya Sabha.

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Senior people in MEA, if not the Minister &amp; her junior minister themselves, should have spoken to each of the 39 families before the news of the deaths was made public.
&mdash; Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) <a href="https://twitter.com/OmarAbdullah/status/976052278149906432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The remaining 39 Indians were taken to Badoosh and killed.

Abdullah said senior officials in the Ministry of External Affairs should have personally informed each of the 39 families before the news was made public.

&quot;Senior people in MEA, if not the Minister &amp; her junior minister themselves, should have spoken to each of the 39 families before the news of the deaths was made public,&quot; he tweeted.

All the 39 Indians, who were abducted by the ISIS in Iraq nearly three years ago, were killed and their bodies have been recovered, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah today said it was "unpardonable" that the families of 39 Indians, killed in captivity in Iraq, had to learn about their heartbreaking loss from television channels instead of the government. "Nothing Govt of India says can make up for the sheer heartlessness displayed today. Using Parliament as an excuse for the families of 39 dead Indians having to learn of their heartbreaking loss from TV channels is unpardonable (sic)," Omar said in a tweet. Nothing Govt of India says can make up for the sheer heartlessness displayed today. Using Parliament as an excuse for the families of 39 dead Indians having to learn of their heartbreaking loss from TV channels is unpardonable. — Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) March 20, 2018 × All the 39 Indians, who were abducted by the ISIS in Iraq nearly three years ago, were killed and their bodies have been recovered, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said today. As many as 40 Indians were originally abducted by the terrorist organisation from Mosul in Iraq but one of them escaped by posing as a Muslim from Bangladesh, Swaraj said in a suo motu statement in Rajya Sabha. Senior people in MEA, if not the Minister & her junior minister themselves, should have spoken to each of the 39 families before the news of the deaths was made public. — Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) March 20, 2018 × The remaining 39 Indians were taken to Badoosh and killed. Abdullah said senior officials in the Ministry of External Affairs should have personally informed each of the 39 families before the news was made public. "Senior people in MEA, if not the Minister & her junior minister themselves, should have spoken to each of the 39 families before the news of the deaths was made public," he tweeted.

'Families learning about deaths in Mosul from TV is unpardonable,' says Omar Abdullah

Nearly 300 women ran through the streets of Iraq&#39;s Mosul on Thursday, in a demonstration of their freedoms eight months after the city was retaken from the Islamic State group.

Mosul&#39;s first ever women&#39;s marathon was held to coincide with International Women&#39;s Day.

The 900-metre run was not the length of a full marathon, but organiser Fatima Khalaf said it marked a real change for women in the city, who faced harsh restrictions under the hardline rule of the jihadists.

The race aimed to &quot;urge women and girls in the city to actively reclaim their rights,&quot; the 30-year-old said.

Trophy in hand, winner Najla Abdelhadi said she was &quot;very happy&quot;.

The 24-year-old sports education student said she her victory would &quot;send a message to the women of Mosul about the need to... take a step towards taking their rightful place in society&quot;.

Women lined either side of the street during the marathon, waving placards drawing attention to the harsh realities Iraqi women have faced.&nbsp;

&quot;You Are Not Powerless&quot; read one sign. &quot;Women Can Do It&quot; read another.

Men also showed up to watch the event. Mustafa Qais, 24, carried a sign reading: &quot;I support women getting the same rights as men.&quot;

The jihadists of IS seized control of Mosul in mid-2014, making it the de facto Iraqi capital of their &quot;caliphate&quot;.

During its three-year rule over nearly a third of Iraq, IS subjected hundreds of thousands of women to its rigid interpretation of Islam, using beatings and executions as punishments.

In Mosul and its surrounding province, jihadists raped, kidnapped and enslaved thousands of women and adolescent girls, especially those of the Yazidi ethnic minority.&nbsp;

The marathon was one of a series of events that have seen residents reclaim public spaces since Iraqi forces retook the city in July, including Valentine&#39;s Day market last month.

&nbsp;

Nearly 300 women ran through the streets of Iraq's Mosul in a demonstration of their freedom from the Islamic State group

Nearly 300 women ran through the streets of Iraq's Mosul on Thursday, in a demonstration of their freedoms eight months after the city was retaken from the Islamic State group. Mosul's first ever women's marathon was held to coincide with International Women's Day. The 900-metre run was not the length of a full marathon, but organiser Fatima Khalaf said it marked a real change for women in the city, who faced harsh restrictions under the hardline rule of the jihadists. The race aimed to "urge women and girls in the city to actively reclaim their rights," the 30-year-old said. Trophy in hand, winner Najla Abdelhadi said she was "very happy". The 24-year-old sports education student said she her victory would "send a message to the women of Mosul about the need to... take a step towards taking their rightful place in society". Women lined either side of the street during the marathon, waving placards drawing attention to the harsh realities Iraqi women have faced. "You Are Not Powerless" read one sign. "Women Can Do It" read another. Men also showed up to watch the event. Mustafa Qais, 24, carried a sign reading: "I support women getting the same rights as men." The jihadists of IS seized control of Mosul in mid-2014, making it the de facto Iraqi capital of their "caliphate". During its three-year rule over nearly a third of Iraq, IS subjected hundreds of thousands of women to its rigid interpretation of Islam, using beatings and executions as punishments. In Mosul and its surrounding province, jihadists raped, kidnapped and enslaved thousands of women and adolescent girls, especially those of the Yazidi ethnic minority. The marathon was one of a series of events that have seen residents reclaim public spaces since Iraqi forces retook the city in July, including Valentine's Day market last month.

Here is how Mosul women celebrated women's day

In a classroom of the University of&nbsp;<a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Mosul" pg="AS1_InlineMedia#AS1_https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/battle-to-free-mosul-of-is-intellectual-terrorism/articleshow/62955972.cms~Mosul-https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Mosul">Mosul</a>, in the Islamic State group&#39;s former Iraqi capital, around 50 volunteers have undergone a week&#39;s training on how to combat the jihadists&#39; ideology. 
The ulema, or Islamic scholars, aim to set up &quot;brigades&quot; tasked with ridding Mosul residents of extremist ideas following the city&#39;s recapture last July which ended three years of IS rule. 
 
&quot;Mosul must be liberated from the thinking of Daesh after having been liberated militarily,&quot; said Mussaab Mahmud, who just completed the course, using an Arabic acronym for IS. 
 
&quot;We were deceived by Daesh ideas and now we are trying to free ourselves from its ideology,&quot; said the 30-year-old day labourer. 
 
The first group of volunteers came from all sectors of Mosul society, including mechanics, teachers and a sheikh. 
 
The men aged from 25 to 45 signed up on Facebook for the course run by the&nbsp;<a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Ulema-Forum-of-Mosul" pg="AS1_InlineMedia#AS1_https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/battle-to-free-mosul-of-is-intellectual-terrorism/articleshow/62955972.cms~Ulema Forum of Mosul-https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Ulema-Forum-of-Mosul">Ulema Forum of Mosul</a>, Iraq&#39;s second largest city which was left shattered by the months-long battle to expel IS. 
 
The classes are being conducted by five teachers who are experts in Islamic jurisprudence from Mosul and Tikrit, a city to the south that was also previously under brutal IS rule. 
 
&quot;The lessons are concentrated on human rights, human development, peaceful coexistence and communal peace,&quot; the forum&#39;s president Sheikh Saleh al-Obeidi told AFP. 
 
He said participants were tutored on &quot;faith, Islamic jurisprudence and the Hadith (record of the sayings of the Prophet Mohammad) to allow them to counter the ideas of Daesh and its intellectual terrorism&quot;. 
 
IS imposed its own rigid interpretation of Islamic law on all aspects of everyday life, branding opponents &quot;apostates&quot; who should be killed. 
 
Most members of religious and ethnic minorities who had lived in peace for centuries alongside Mosul&#39;s majority&nbsp;<a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Sunni-Muslims" pg="AS1_InlineMedia#AS1_https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/battle-to-free-mosul-of-is-intellectual-terrorism/articleshow/62955972.cms~Sunni Muslims-https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Sunni-Muslims">Sunni Muslims</a>&nbsp;fled to escape the radicals with their beatings and public executions. 
 
Sheikh Obeidi said the brigades will go out and &quot;combat the extremist ideas on social media and by calling on residents in their homes&quot;. 
 
His forum was established in 2014 in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, to the north of Mosul, by ulema who had fled the city. 
 
They broadcast on private television channels but residents risked the wrath of IS if they were caught tuning in to the forum&#39;s programmes. 
 
Sheikh Obeidi said that the classes would expand to cover &quot;all social groups and both sexes&quot;, although it was still looking for permanent premises in the war-battered city.

Priority will be the children indoctrinated in IS-run schools where they were taught the jihadist version of Islam and given weapons training. 
 
&quot;As a teacher myself, what I&#39;ve learnt here will allow me as far as possible to erase the radical Daesh ideas instilled in pupils, because they were the worst affected and influenced,&quot; said Ibrahim Mohammad Hamid, 27.

&quot;I will go to the parents because the home and the family play a major role in spreading the idea of tolerance and coexistence,&quot; he said. 
 
Mohammad Abaiji, a 24-year-old imam, or prayer leader, said he would run seminars in the mosque for children &quot;to spread enlightened ideas, because Islam is a religion of tolerance&quot;.

The first group of volunteers came from all sectors of Mosul society

In a classroom of the University of Mosul, in the Islamic State group's former Iraqi capital, around 50 volunteers have undergone a week's training on how to combat the jihadists' ideology. The ulema, or Islamic scholars, aim to set up "brigades" tasked with ridding Mosul residents of extremist ideas following the city's recapture last July which ended three years of IS rule. "Mosul must be liberated from the thinking of Daesh after having been liberated militarily," said Mussaab Mahmud, who just completed the course, using an Arabic acronym for IS. "We were deceived by Daesh ideas and now we are trying to free ourselves from its ideology," said the 30-year-old day labourer. The first group of volunteers came from all sectors of Mosul society, including mechanics, teachers and a sheikh. The men aged from 25 to 45 signed up on Facebook for the course run by the Ulema Forum of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city which was left shattered by the months-long battle to expel IS. The classes are being conducted by five teachers who are experts in Islamic jurisprudence from Mosul and Tikrit, a city to the south that was also previously under brutal IS rule. "The lessons are concentrated on human rights, human development, peaceful coexistence and communal peace," the forum's president Sheikh Saleh al-Obeidi told AFP. He said participants were tutored on "faith, Islamic jurisprudence and the Hadith (record of the sayings of the Prophet Mohammad) to allow them to counter the ideas of Daesh and its intellectual terrorism". IS imposed its own rigid interpretation of Islamic law on all aspects of everyday life, branding opponents "apostates" who should be killed. Most members of religious and ethnic minorities who had lived in peace for centuries alongside Mosul's majority Sunni Muslims fled to escape the radicals with their beatings and public executions. Sheikh Obeidi said the brigades will go out and "combat the extremist ideas on social media and by calling on residents in their homes". His forum was established in 2014 in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, to the north of Mosul, by ulema who had fled the city. They broadcast on private television channels but residents risked the wrath of IS if they were caught tuning in to the forum's programmes. Sheikh Obeidi said that the classes would expand to cover "all social groups and both sexes", although it was still looking for permanent premises in the war-battered city. Priority will be the children indoctrinated in IS-run schools where they were taught the jihadist version of Islam and given weapons training. "As a teacher myself, what I've learnt here will allow me as far as possible to erase the radical Daesh ideas instilled in pupils, because they were the worst affected and influenced," said Ibrahim Mohammad Hamid, 27. "I will go to the parents because the home and the family play a major role in spreading the idea of tolerance and coexistence," he said. Mohammad Abaiji, a 24-year-old imam, or prayer leader, said he would run seminars in the mosque for children "to spread enlightened ideas, because Islam is a religion of tolerance".

Battle to free Mosul of IS 'intellectual terrorism'

Self-designed homes based on traditional Iraqi architecture could be the solution to the drastic housing crisis facing Mosul, where hundreds of thousands are expected to return following the end of three years of Islamic State occupation.

An award-winning design would see returning residents create their own neighbourhoods in modules that can grow and evolve to suit their needs.

&ldquo;The shape of the housing is completely up to the inhabitants,&rdquo; said Ania Otlik, the winner of inaugural Rifat Chadirji Prize, which challenged architects to find a practical and sustainable solution to the Iraqi city&rsquo;s housing needs. &ldquo;Having one measure that fits all is almost impossible, especially when it comes to such a diverse society ... which varies in religion, culture, background and family size.&rdquo;

Nearly 1 million civilians fled in the three years since Islamic State militants took the city, which Iraq declared liberated in July, according to the United Nations.

Iraqi government officials have estimated it will take at least five years and billions of dollars to rebuild Mosul.

Otlik, a graduate of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology in Poland, researched traditional Iraqi architectural designs, poring over sketches and schemes to create her housing plan.

Each dwelling is constructed around a central patio, providing outside space around which rooms and spaces can be arranged.

&ldquo;The plan of the house can be a little more open when the family decides it this way, or maybe another family is strictly Islamic so they will build it in their own traditional way,&rdquo; she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Building materials that are easy to source in the battle-scarred city - such as rubble and mud - could be used for construction until more permanent replacements become available, she said.

Otlik drew inspiration from her native Poland, whose capital Warsaw was entirely rebuilt after it was razed by Nazi troops during the Second World War.

Other finalist designs featured garden bridges over the Tigris river to provide housing and urban farms, and homes connected via a metro repurposed from a system of subterranean tunnels constructed by Islamic State to aid its fighters.

&ldquo;It was not a problem finding a winner,&rdquo; said Ahmed Al-Mallak, founding director of the independent Tamayouz Excellence Award, which oversaw the competition.

Mallak hopes the winning designs will influence Iraq&rsquo;s construction and housing minister Anne Nafi Aussi and a number of planning officials who are scheduled to attend the formal prize-giving ceremony in Jordan&rsquo;s capital Amman in December.

An award-winning design would see returning residents create their own neighbourhoods in modules that can grow and evolve to suit their needs

Self-designed homes based on traditional Iraqi architecture could be the solution to the drastic housing crisis facing Mosul, where hundreds of thousands are expected to return following the end of three years of Islamic State occupation. An award-winning design would see returning residents create their own neighbourhoods in modules that can grow and evolve to suit their needs. “The shape of the housing is completely up to the inhabitants,” said Ania Otlik, the winner of inaugural Rifat Chadirji Prize, which challenged architects to find a practical and sustainable solution to the Iraqi city’s housing needs. “Having one measure that fits all is almost impossible, especially when it comes to such a diverse society ... which varies in religion, culture, background and family size.” Nearly 1 million civilians fled in the three years since Islamic State militants took the city, which Iraq declared liberated in July, according to the United Nations. Iraqi government officials have estimated it will take at least five years and billions of dollars to rebuild Mosul. Otlik, a graduate of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology in Poland, researched traditional Iraqi architectural designs, poring over sketches and schemes to create her housing plan. Each dwelling is constructed around a central patio, providing outside space around which rooms and spaces can be arranged. “The plan of the house can be a little more open when the family decides it this way, or maybe another family is strictly Islamic so they will build it in their own traditional way,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Building materials that are easy to source in the battle-scarred city - such as rubble and mud - could be used for construction until more permanent replacements become available, she said. Otlik drew inspiration from her native Poland, whose capital Warsaw was entirely rebuilt after it was razed by Nazi troops during the Second World War. Other finalist designs featured garden bridges over the Tigris river to provide housing and urban farms, and homes connected via a metro repurposed from a system of subterranean tunnels constructed by Islamic State to aid its fighters. “It was not a problem finding a winner,” said Ahmed Al-Mallak, founding director of the independent Tamayouz Excellence Award, which oversaw the competition. Mallak hopes the winning designs will influence Iraq’s construction and housing minister Anne Nafi Aussi and a number of planning officials who are scheduled to attend the formal prize-giving ceremony in Jordan’s capital Amman in December.

Self-designed homes to provide new scope for sustainability in Mosul

India&#39;s minister of <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/exclusive-badush-jail-destroyed-fate-of-39-missing-indians-still-uncertain-18005">state for external affairs VK Singh today met Iraq&#39;s army chief </a>General Othman al-Ghanmi today to seek assistance in tracing&nbsp;39 missing Indians in war-torn Mosul.

India has been frantically trying to track the thirty-nine missing Indians in Mosul for the past several months. VK Singh had visited Mosul in July earlier to press the Iraqi government for more information but had returned empty-handed.

India&#39;s external minister Sushma Swaraj had said that the missing Indians may have been hauled up in a jail in Badush in northwest Mosul but WION correspondent Daniele Pagani visited the area and reported&nbsp;that jail, where the Indians were believed to be held, had been levelled to the ground.&nbsp;

The relatives of the thirty-nine missing Indians have been anxiously waiting for some good news and have been in touch with India&#39;s foreign ministry.&nbsp;

Iraqi forces had freed Mosul from Islamic State(IS) in July after bitter fighting, three years after the terrorist organization had seized the city.&nbsp;

A 100,000-strong alliance led by Iraqi government units Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shi&#39;ite militias had defeated the IS which had made Mosul its stronghold and part of a &quot;caliphate&quot;.

India has been trying to track the thirty-nine missing Indians in Mosul for the past several months.

India's minister of state for external affairs VK Singh today met Iraq's army chief General Othman al-Ghanmi today to seek assistance in tracing 39 missing Indians in war-torn Mosul. India has been frantically trying to track the thirty-nine missing Indians in Mosul for the past several months. VK Singh had visited Mosul in July earlier to press the Iraqi government for more information but had returned empty-handed. India's external minister Sushma Swaraj had said that the missing Indians may have been hauled up in a jail in Badush in northwest Mosul but WION correspondent Daniele Pagani visited the area and reported that jail, where the Indians were believed to be held, had been levelled to the ground. The relatives of the thirty-nine missing Indians have been anxiously waiting for some good news and have been in touch with India's foreign ministry. Iraqi forces had freed Mosul from Islamic State(IS) in July after bitter fighting, three years after the terrorist organization had seized the city. A 100,000-strong alliance led by Iraqi government units Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shi'ite militias had defeated the IS which had made Mosul its stronghold and part of a "caliphate".

VK Singh meets Iraq's army chief to trace?39 missing Indians in Mosul

Iraqi authorities are holding 1,400 foreign wives and children of suspected Islamic State fighters in a camp after government forces expelled the jihadist group from one of its last remaining strongholds in Iraq, security and aid officials said.

Many of them say they are from Russia, Turkey and Central Asia, but there are also some from European countries, the officials said. They have mostly arrived at the camp south of Mosul since Aug 30.

An Iraqi intelligence officer said that they were in the process of verifying their nationalities with their home countries, since many of the women no longer had their original documents.

It is the largest group of foreigners linked to Islamic State to be held by Iraqi forces since they started expelling the militants from Mosul and other areas in northern Iraq last year, an aid official said. Thousands of foreigners have been fighting for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

A senior security officer said the authorities were trying to find a safe place to house the families while negotiating with embassies for their return home. They are not allowed to leave the camp.

Reuters reporters saw hundreds of the women and children sitting on mattresses crawling with bugs in tents in what aid workers called a &quot;militarized site&quot;. Turkish, French and Russian were among the languages spoken.

&quot;I want to go back (to France) but don&#39;t know how,&quot; said a French-speaking veiled woman of Chechen origin who said she had lived in Paris before.

She said she did not know what had happened to her husband, who had brought her to Iraq when he joined Islamic State.

The security officer said the women and children had mostly surrendered to the Kurdish Peshmerga near the northern city of Tal Afar, along with their husbands. The Kurds handed the women and children over to Iraqi forces, but kept the men - all presumed to be fighters - in their custody.

Many of the families had fled to Tal Afar after Iraqi troops pushed Islamic State out of Mosul on Aug 30.

Iraqi forces retook Tal Afar, a city of predominantly ethnic Turkmen that has produced some of Islamic State&#39;s most senior commanders, last month. Most of its pre-war population of 200,000 have fled.

Tension

Aid workers and the authorities are worried about tensions between Iraqis, who lost their homes and are also living in the camp, and the new arrivals.

Many Iraqis want revenge for the harsh treatment they received under the extremists&#39; interpretation of Sunni Islam they imposed in Mosul and the other areas they seized in 2014.

&quot;The families are being kept to one side (of the camp) for their own safety,&quot; an Iraqi military intelligence officer said.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which is supporting the 541 women and their children, said Iraq &quot;must swiftly move to clarify its future plans for these individuals&quot;.

&quot;Like all those fleeing conflict, it is imperative that these individuals are able to access protection, assistance, and information,&quot; NRC said in a statement. &quot;They are in de-facto detention.&quot;

Western officials are worried about radicalized fighters and their relatives coming home after the collapse of Islamic State&#39;s &quot;caliphate&quot;.

French officials have indicated a preference for citizens found to be affiliated with IS to be prosecuted in Iraq.

&quot;The general philosophy is that adults should go on trial in Iraq,&quot; a French diplomatic source told Reuters last month, of those found to have been fighters. &quot;We think children would benefit from judicial and social services in France.&quot;

Tricked

The women in the camp were cooking noodles or lying on mattresses with their babies in the hot tents. Many were still wearing the black abayas and face-veils, which was mandatory in areas the militants controlled.

&quot;My mother doesn&#39;t even know where I am,&quot; said a 27-year-old French woman of Algerian descent who said she had been tricked by her husband to come with him via Turkey into Syria and then Iraq when he joined Islamic State last year.

&quot;I had just given birth to this little girl three months before,&quot; she said holding the infant and asking not to be named.

&quot;He said &#39;let&#39;s go for a week&#39;s holiday in Turkey.&#39; He had already bought the plane tickets and the hotel.&quot;

After four months in Mosul, she ran away from her husband to Tal Afar in February. She was hoping to make it back to France but he found her and would not let her leave.

She tearily recounted how her five-year-old son was killed in June by a rocket while playing in the streets.

&quot;I don&#39;t understand why he did this to us,&quot; she said of her husband, who she said was killed fighting in Mosul. &quot;Dead or alive - I couldn&#39;t care less about him.&quot;

She and a few other families had walked for days to surrender at a Kurdish Peshmerga checkpoint beyond al-Ayadiyah, a town near Tal Afar where the militants took their last stand.

&quot;We were getting bombed, shelled and shot at,&quot; she said.

Kurdish officials said dozens of fighters surrendered after the fall of Tal Afar but gave no details. One Tal Afar resident said he had seen between 70 and 80 fighters fleeing the town in the final days of the battle.

Many of them say they are from Russia, Turkey and Central Asia, but there are also some from European countries, the officials said

Iraqi authorities are holding 1,400 foreign wives and children of suspected Islamic State fighters in a camp after government forces expelled the jihadist group from one of its last remaining strongholds in Iraq, security and aid officials said. Many of them say they are from Russia, Turkey and Central Asia, but there are also some from European countries, the officials said. They have mostly arrived at the camp south of Mosul since Aug 30. An Iraqi intelligence officer said that they were in the process of verifying their nationalities with their home countries, since many of the women no longer had their original documents. It is the largest group of foreigners linked to Islamic State to be held by Iraqi forces since they started expelling the militants from Mosul and other areas in northern Iraq last year, an aid official said. Thousands of foreigners have been fighting for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. A senior security officer said the authorities were trying to find a safe place to house the families while negotiating with embassies for their return home. They are not allowed to leave the camp. Reuters reporters saw hundreds of the women and children sitting on mattresses crawling with bugs in tents in what aid workers called a "militarized site". Turkish, French and Russian were among the languages spoken. "I want to go back (to France) but don't know how," said a French-speaking veiled woman of Chechen origin who said she had lived in Paris before. She said she did not know what had happened to her husband, who had brought her to Iraq when he joined Islamic State. The security officer said the women and children had mostly surrendered to the Kurdish Peshmerga near the northern city of Tal Afar, along with their husbands. The Kurds handed the women and children over to Iraqi forces, but kept the men - all presumed to be fighters - in their custody. Many of the families had fled to Tal Afar after Iraqi troops pushed Islamic State out of Mosul on Aug 30. Iraqi forces retook Tal Afar, a city of predominantly ethnic Turkmen that has produced some of Islamic State's most senior commanders, last month. Most of its pre-war population of 200,000 have fled. Tension Aid workers and the authorities are worried about tensions between Iraqis, who lost their homes and are also living in the camp, and the new arrivals. Many Iraqis want revenge for the harsh treatment they received under the extremists' interpretation of Sunni Islam they imposed in Mosul and the other areas they seized in 2014. "The families are being kept to one side (of the camp) for their own safety," an Iraqi military intelligence officer said. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which is supporting the 541 women and their children, said Iraq "must swiftly move to clarify its future plans for these individuals". "Like all those fleeing conflict, it is imperative that these individuals are able to access protection, assistance, and information," NRC said in a statement. "They are in de-facto detention." Western officials are worried about radicalized fighters and their relatives coming home after the collapse of Islamic State's "caliphate". French officials have indicated a preference for citizens found to be affiliated with IS to be prosecuted in Iraq. "The general philosophy is that adults should go on trial in Iraq," a French diplomatic source told Reuters last month, of those found to have been fighters. "We think children would benefit from judicial and social services in France." Tricked The women in the camp were cooking noodles or lying on mattresses with their babies in the hot tents. Many were still wearing the black abayas and face-veils, which was mandatory in areas the militants controlled. "My mother doesn't even know where I am," said a 27-year-old French woman of Algerian descent who said she had been tricked by her husband to come with him via Turkey into Syria and then Iraq when he joined Islamic State last year. "I had just given birth to this little girl three months before," she said holding the infant and asking not to be named. "He said 'let's go for a week's holiday in Turkey.' He had already bought the plane tickets and the hotel." After four months in Mosul, she ran away from her husband to Tal Afar in February. She was hoping to make it back to France but he found her and would not let her leave. She tearily recounted how her five-year-old son was killed in June by a rocket while playing in the streets. "I don't understand why he did this to us," she said of her husband, who she said was killed fighting in Mosul. "Dead or alive - I couldn't care less about him." She and a few other families had walked for days to surrender at a Kurdish Peshmerga checkpoint beyond al-Ayadiyah, a town near Tal Afar where the militants took their last stand. "We were getting bombed, shelled and shot at," she said. Kurdish officials said dozens of fighters surrendered after the fall of Tal Afar but gave no details. One Tal Afar resident said he had seen between 70 and 80 fighters fleeing the town in the final days of the battle.

1,400 wives, children of Islamic State militants held by Iraqi forces

&nbsp;Iraqi security forces launched on Sunday an offensive to take back the city of Tal Afar, their next objective in the US.-backed campaign to defeat Islamic State militants, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said.

&quot;You either surrender, or die,&quot; Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the offensive, addressing the militants.

A longtime stronghold of hardline Sunni insurgents, Tal Afar, 50 miles (80 km) west of Mosul, was cut off from the rest of the Islamic State-held territory in June.

The city is surrounded by Iraqi government troops and Shi&#39;ite volunteers in the south, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north.

About 2,000 battle-hardened militants remain in the city, according to US and Iraqi military commanders.

They are expected to put up a tough fight, even though intelligence from inside the city indicates they have been exhausted by months of combat, aerial bombardments, and by the lack of fresh supplies.

Hours before Abadi&#39;s announcement, the Iraqi air force dropped leaflets over the city telling the population to take their precautions. &quot;Prepare yourself, the battle is imminent and the victory is coming, God willing,&quot; they read.

Islamic State&#39;s self-proclaimed &quot;caliphate&quot; effectively collapsed last month, when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces completed the takeover of the militants&#39; capital in Iraq, Mosul, after a nine-month campaign.

But parts of Iraq and Syria remain under its control, including Tal Afar, a city with a pre-war population of about 200,000.

Tal Afar experienced cycles of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi&#39;ites after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and has produced some of Islamic State&#39;s most senior commanders.

Waves of civilians have fled the city and surrounding villages under cover of darkness over the past weeks, although several thousand are estimated to remain, threatened with death by the militants who have held a tight grip there since 2014.

Residents who left Tal Afar last week told Reuters the militants looked exhausted.

&quot;(Fighters) have been using tunnels to move from place to place to avoid air strikes,&quot; said 60-year-old Haj Mahmoud, a retired teacher. &quot;Their faces looked desperate and broken.&quot;

The main forces taking part in the offensive are the Iraqi army, Federal Police and the elite U.S.-trained Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), Iraqi commanders told Reuters.

Shi&#39;ite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), some of which are trained and armed by Iran, said they will also take part in the battle. Their involvement is likely to worry Turkey, which claims an affinity with the area&#39;s predominantly ethnic Turkmen population.

The U.S.-led coalition said over the past days it had carried out dozens of air strikes on Tal Afar, targeting weapons depots and command centers, in preparation for the ground assault.

&quot;Intelligence gathered shows clearly that the remaining fighters are mainly foreign and Arab nationals with their families and that means they will fight until the last breath,&quot;

Colonel Kareem al-Lami, from the Iraqi army&#39;s 9th Division, told Reuters earlier this week.

But Lami said Tal Afar&#39;s open terrain and wide streets will allow tanks and armored vehicles easy passage. Only one part of Tal Afar, Sarai, is comparable to Mosul&#39;s Old City, where Iraqi troops were forced to advance on foot through narrow streets moving house-to-house in a battle that resulted in the near total destruction of the historic district.

The United Nation&#39;s International Organization for Migration (IOM), estimates that about 10,000 to 40,000 people are left in Tal Afar and surrounding villages. Aid groups say they are not expecting a huge civilian exodus as most the city&#39;s former residents have already left.

About 2,000 battle-hardened militants remain in the city, according to US and Iraqi military commanders

Iraqi security forces launched on Sunday an offensive to take back the city of Tal Afar, their next objective in the US.-backed campaign to defeat Islamic State militants, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said. "You either surrender, or die," Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the offensive, addressing the militants. A longtime stronghold of hardline Sunni insurgents, Tal Afar, 50 miles (80 km) west of Mosul, was cut off from the rest of the Islamic State-held territory in June. The city is surrounded by Iraqi government troops and Shi'ite volunteers in the south, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in the north. About 2,000 battle-hardened militants remain in the city, according to US and Iraqi military commanders. They are expected to put up a tough fight, even though intelligence from inside the city indicates they have been exhausted by months of combat, aerial bombardments, and by the lack of fresh supplies. Hours before Abadi's announcement, the Iraqi air force dropped leaflets over the city telling the population to take their precautions. "Prepare yourself, the battle is imminent and the victory is coming, God willing," they read. Islamic State's self-proclaimed "caliphate" effectively collapsed last month, when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces completed the takeover of the militants' capital in Iraq, Mosul, after a nine-month campaign. But parts of Iraq and Syria remain under its control, including Tal Afar, a city with a pre-war population of about 200,000. Tal Afar experienced cycles of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi'ites after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and has produced some of Islamic State's most senior commanders. Waves of civilians have fled the city and surrounding villages under cover of darkness over the past weeks, although several thousand are estimated to remain, threatened with death by the militants who have held a tight grip there since 2014. Residents who left Tal Afar last week told Reuters the militants looked exhausted. "(Fighters) have been using tunnels to move from place to place to avoid air strikes," said 60-year-old Haj Mahmoud, a retired teacher. "Their faces looked desperate and broken." The main forces taking part in the offensive are the Iraqi army, Federal Police and the elite U.S.-trained Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), Iraqi commanders told Reuters. Shi'ite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), some of which are trained and armed by Iran, said they will also take part in the battle. Their involvement is likely to worry Turkey, which claims an affinity with the area's predominantly ethnic Turkmen population. The U.S.-led coalition said over the past days it had carried out dozens of air strikes on Tal Afar, targeting weapons depots and command centers, in preparation for the ground assault. "Intelligence gathered shows clearly that the remaining fighters are mainly foreign and Arab nationals with their families and that means they will fight until the last breath," Colonel Kareem al-Lami, from the Iraqi army's 9th Division, told Reuters earlier this week. But Lami said Tal Afar's open terrain and wide streets will allow tanks and armored vehicles easy passage. Only one part of Tal Afar, Sarai, is comparable to Mosul's Old City, where Iraqi troops were forced to advance on foot through narrow streets moving house-to-house in a battle that resulted in the near total destruction of the historic district. The United Nation's International Organization for Migration (IOM), estimates that about 10,000 to 40,000 people are left in Tal Afar and surrounding villages. Aid groups say they are not expecting a huge civilian exodus as most the city's former residents have already left.

Iraq launches offensive to take back Tal Afar from Islamic State

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/islamic-state-releases-video-threatening-new-attacks-in-iran-18795">Islamic State fighter</a> from Australia Khaled Sharrouf from Australia is likely dead in a coalition air strike in Raqqa, reports said.

Reports said Khaled Sharrouf and his sons two sons - Abdullah, 12, and Zarqawi, 11 were killed while driving near Raqqa in an air strike on August 11th.

Australia today said there was a &quot;high probability&quot; that IS fighter Khaled Sharrouf was dead. &quot;Nobody will mourn his passing... I can assure you of that,&quot; Australia&#39;s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told Channel Nine.

The Australian newspaper and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation&nbsp;both citing unnamed government sources, reported the death of Sharrouf and his sons.

&quot;There&#39;s a high level of confidence, but this guy&#39;s been like a cat with nine lives,&quot; Peter Dutton&nbsp;said.&nbsp;

&nbsp;Sharrouf was earlier believed to have been killed in 2015 in a drone strike in Syria but later reports said he was alive. He is believed to have joined IS in Syria in 2013.

&nbsp;ABC reported photos of Sharrouf&rsquo;s dead body and his sons had been seen by Australia&rsquo;s extremist community.

The Australian newspaper and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation?both citing unnamed government sources, reported the death of Sharrouf and his sons.

Islamic State fighter from Australia Khaled Sharrouf from Australia is likely dead in a coalition air strike in Raqqa, reports said. Reports said Khaled Sharrouf and his sons two sons - Abdullah, 12, and Zarqawi, 11 were killed while driving near Raqqa in an air strike on August 11th. Australia today said there was a "high probability" that IS fighter Khaled Sharrouf was dead. "Nobody will mourn his passing... I can assure you of that," Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told Channel Nine. The Australian newspaper and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation both citing unnamed government sources, reported the death of Sharrouf and his sons. "There's a high level of confidence, but this guy's been like a cat with nine lives," Peter Dutton said. Sharrouf was earlier believed to have been killed in 2015 in a drone strike in Syria but later reports said he was alive. He is believed to have joined IS in Syria in 2013. ABC reported photos of Sharrouf’s dead body and his sons had been seen by Australia’s extremist community.

Islamic State fighter from Australia Khaled Sharrouf likely dead: Report

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said in Parliament on Wednesday that there was no proof the 39 Indians missing in Iraq were dead.&nbsp;

&quot;It&#39;s very easy for me to say that the 39 Indians are dead. No one including their families will ask me anything after that,&quot; ANI reported her as saying.&nbsp;

&quot;Iraq has never said that the 39 Indians missing are dead,&quot; Swaraj added.&nbsp;

&quot;Gumrah karne se mujhe ya sarkar ko kya milega?&quot;&nbsp;she said.&nbsp;

The 39 Indians went missing from Mosul, which was recently liberated from Islamic State.&nbsp;

Swaraj had met relatives of the missing Indians last week and told them the 39 Indians might be imprisoned in the Badush region of northwest Mosul.&nbsp;

But WION correspondent Daniele Pagani reported from Mosul (below) that the Badush prison had been reduced to rubble in the fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State.&nbsp;

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Where are the missing 39 Indians? (WION)
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Swaraj had met relatives of the missing Indians last week and told them the 39 Indians might be imprisoned in the Badush region of northwest Mosul

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said in Parliament on Wednesday that there was no proof the 39 Indians missing in Iraq were dead. "It's very easy for me to say that the 39 Indians are dead. No one including their families will ask me anything after that," ANI reported her as saying. "Iraq has never said that the 39 Indians missing are dead," Swaraj added. "Gumrah karne se mujhe ya sarkar ko kya milega?" she said. The 39 Indians went missing from Mosul, which was recently liberated from Islamic State. Swaraj had met relatives of the missing Indians last week and told them the 39 Indians might be imprisoned in the Badush region of northwest Mosul. But WION correspondent Daniele Pagani reported from Mosul (below) that the Badush prison had been reduced to rubble in the fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State. Where are the missing 39 Indians? (WION) ×

Sushma Swaraj: No proof 39 Indians missing in Iraq are dead

Islamic State militants began reinventing themselves months before US-backed Iraqi forces ended their three-year reign of terror in Mosul, putting aside the dream of a modern-day caliphate and preparing the ground for a different fight.

Intelligence and local officials said that, a few months ago, they noticed a growing stream of commanders and fighters flowing out of the city to the Hamrin mountains in northeast Iraq which offer hideouts and access to four Iraqi provinces.

Some were intercepted but many evaded security forces and began setting up bases for their new operations.

What comes next may be a more complex and daunting challenge for Iraqi security forces once they finish celebrating a hard-won victory in Mosul, the militants&#39; biggest stronghold.

Intelligence and security officials are bracing for the kind of devastating insurgency al Qaeda waged following the 2003 US-led invasion, pushing Iraq into a sectarian civil war which peaked in 2006-2007.

&quot;They are digging in. They have easy access to the capital,&quot; Lahur Talabany, a top Kurdish counter-terrorism official, told Reuters. As part of the US-led coalition, he is at the forefront of efforts to eliminate Islamic State.

&quot;I believe we have tougher days coming.&rdquo;

Some Iraqi Islamic State fighters have roots dating back to al Qaeda&#39;s campaign of car and suicide bombs that exploded by the dozens each day and succeeded in fueling a sectarian bloodbath in Iraq, a major oil producer and key US&nbsp;ally.

When a US-funded tribal initiative crushed al-Qaeda, the hardcore regrouped in the desert between Iraq and Syria. They reappeared with a new jihadist brand that took the world by surprise: Islamic State.

Shortly after its lighting sweep through Mosul, the group outdid al Qaeda&#39;s brutality, carrying out mass beheadings and executions as it imposed its ultra-hardline ideology.

Unlike al-Qaeda, it seized a third of Iraqi territory, gaining knowledge of land that could come in handy as it hits back at Iraqi security forces.

&nbsp;

SADDAM&#39;S INTELLIGENCE AGENTS

Former Iraq intelligence officers who served under Saddam Hussein joined forces with Islamic State in an alliance of convenience. These shrewd military strategists from his Baath Party are expected to be the new generation of Islamic State leaders, Talabany and other security officials said.

Instead of trying to create a caliphate, a concept which attracted recruits from disaffected fellow Sunni Muslims, Islamic State leaders will focus on far less predictable guerrilla warfare, Iraqi and Kurdish security officials said.

Iraqi forces have come a long way since they collapsed in the face of the Islamic State advance in 2014, throwing down their weapons and removing their military uniforms in panic.

They fought for nearly nine months to seize Mosul, with steady help from US-led airstrikes that flattened entire neighbourhoods.

The key question is whether an army that is far more comfortable with conventional warfare can take on an insurgency with sleeper cells and small units of militants who pop out of deserts and mountains, carry out attacks and melt away.

&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll try to hide with the population. Their cells will get smaller &ndash; instead of companies and platoons, they&rsquo;ll go to squads and cells, much smaller elements hiding in the population,&quot; Lieutenant-General Steve Townsend, commander of the US-led coalition, told reporters.

&ldquo;Our Iraqi security force partners will have to engage in counter-insurgency style operations at some point and we&rsquo;re already making efforts now to start shaping their training towards that next ISIS tactic.&quot;

History suggests training may not be enough. The United States spent $25 billion on the Iraqi military during the American occupation that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 and triggered an insurgency that included al Qaeda.

That did not prepare the army for the long-haired Islamic State militants who sped into Mosul in pickup trucks with weapons stolen from retreating Iraqi troops. Iraqi forces can certainly point to successes in Mosul and the cities of Falluja and Ramadi in Anbar province, once held by Islamic State.

But local officials say the cities remain vulnerable to attacks from the vast desert nearby mastered by militants.

&quot;Security operations will be useless unless security forces control the desert,&quot; said Anbar official Emad Dulaimi, adding that the desert had become a safe haven for Islamic State. &quot;It is not present as an organization in cities but it carries out attacks by individuals. Car bombs. Suicide bombers. People fear Islamic State will come back. There are attacks every day.&quot;

Tareq Youssef al-Asal, leader of a tribal force, shares those concerns and complains of what he says is a lack of a coordination among numerous local security forces.

&quot;In the end these leaderships have no experience fighting in the desert,&quot; he said.

Some ordinary citizens still do not feel safe despite the Iraqi army&#39;s improved performance.

Anbar resident Ahmed al-Issawy does not plan on re-opening his restaurant anytime soon. He is afraid it will be destroyed the same way it was in clashes between security forces and Islamic State in 2014. &quot;I am afraid there could be an attack at any second,&quot; he said.

Islamic State has not wasted any time in implementing its new strategy despite a major loss in Mosul.

About 30 militants armed with machine guns and mortars crossed the Tigris river in wooden boats, attacked the village of Imam Gharbi, some 70 kilometres&nbsp;(44 miles) south of Mosul in early July and then pulled out, according to security officials.

&quot;The notion of a caliphate is gone. The dream is gone. They will revert back to their old tactics of hit and run attacks,&quot; said senior Kurdish official and former Iraqi foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari. &quot;The hardcore will keep fighting.&quot;

Instead of trying to create a caliphate, Islamic State leaders will focus on far less predictable guerrilla warfare

Islamic State militants began reinventing themselves months before US-backed Iraqi forces ended their three-year reign of terror in Mosul, putting aside the dream of a modern-day caliphate and preparing the ground for a different fight. Intelligence and local officials said that, a few months ago, they noticed a growing stream of commanders and fighters flowing out of the city to the Hamrin mountains in northeast Iraq which offer hideouts and access to four Iraqi provinces. Some were intercepted but many evaded security forces and began setting up bases for their new operations. What comes next may be a more complex and daunting challenge for Iraqi security forces once they finish celebrating a hard-won victory in Mosul, the militants' biggest stronghold. Intelligence and security officials are bracing for the kind of devastating insurgency al Qaeda waged following the 2003 US-led invasion, pushing Iraq into a sectarian civil war which peaked in 2006-2007. "They are digging in. They have easy access to the capital," Lahur Talabany, a top Kurdish counter-terrorism official, told Reuters. As part of the US-led coalition, he is at the forefront of efforts to eliminate Islamic State. "I believe we have tougher days coming.” Some Iraqi Islamic State fighters have roots dating back to al Qaeda's campaign of car and suicide bombs that exploded by the dozens each day and succeeded in fueling a sectarian bloodbath in Iraq, a major oil producer and key US ally. When a US-funded tribal initiative crushed al-Qaeda, the hardcore regrouped in the desert between Iraq and Syria. They reappeared with a new jihadist brand that took the world by surprise: Islamic State. Shortly after its lighting sweep through Mosul, the group outdid al Qaeda's brutality, carrying out mass beheadings and executions as it imposed its ultra-hardline ideology. Unlike al-Qaeda, it seized a third of Iraqi territory, gaining knowledge of land that could come in handy as it hits back at Iraqi security forces. SADDAM'S INTELLIGENCE AGENTS Former Iraq intelligence officers who served under Saddam Hussein joined forces with Islamic State in an alliance of convenience. These shrewd military strategists from his Baath Party are expected to be the new generation of Islamic State leaders, Talabany and other security officials said. Instead of trying to create a caliphate, a concept which attracted recruits from disaffected fellow Sunni Muslims, Islamic State leaders will focus on far less predictable guerrilla warfare, Iraqi and Kurdish security officials said. Iraqi forces have come a long way since they collapsed in the face of the Islamic State advance in 2014, throwing down their weapons and removing their military uniforms in panic. They fought for nearly nine months to seize Mosul, with steady help from US-led airstrikes that flattened entire neighbourhoods. The key question is whether an army that is far more comfortable with conventional warfare can take on an insurgency with sleeper cells and small units of militants who pop out of deserts and mountains, carry out attacks and melt away. “They’ll try to hide with the population. Their cells will get smaller – instead of companies and platoons, they’ll go to squads and cells, much smaller elements hiding in the population," Lieutenant-General Steve Townsend, commander of the US-led coalition, told reporters. “Our Iraqi security force partners will have to engage in counter-insurgency style operations at some point and we’re already making efforts now to start shaping their training towards that next ISIS tactic." History suggests training may not be enough. The United States spent $25 billion on the Iraqi military during the American occupation that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 and triggered an insurgency that included al Qaeda. That did not prepare the army for the long-haired Islamic State militants who sped into Mosul in pickup trucks with weapons stolen from retreating Iraqi troops. Iraqi forces can certainly point to successes in Mosul and the cities of Falluja and Ramadi in Anbar province, once held by Islamic State. But local officials say the cities remain vulnerable to attacks from the vast desert nearby mastered by militants. "Security operations will be useless unless security forces control the desert," said Anbar official Emad Dulaimi, adding that the desert had become a safe haven for Islamic State. "It is not present as an organization in cities but it carries out attacks by individuals. Car bombs. Suicide bombers. People fear Islamic State will come back. There are attacks every day." Tareq Youssef al-Asal, leader of a tribal force, shares those concerns and complains of what he says is a lack of a coordination among numerous local security forces. "In the end these leaderships have no experience fighting in the desert," he said. Some ordinary citizens still do not feel safe despite the Iraqi army's improved performance. Anbar resident Ahmed al-Issawy does not plan on re-opening his restaurant anytime soon. He is afraid it will be destroyed the same way it was in clashes between security forces and Islamic State in 2014. "I am afraid there could be an attack at any second," he said. Islamic State has not wasted any time in implementing its new strategy despite a major loss in Mosul. About 30 militants armed with machine guns and mortars crossed the Tigris river in wooden boats, attacked the village of Imam Gharbi, some 70 kilometres (44 miles) south of Mosul in early July and then pulled out, according to security officials. "The notion of a caliphate is gone. The dream is gone. They will revert back to their old tactics of hit and run attacks," said senior Kurdish official and former Iraqi foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari. "The hardcore will keep fighting."

After Mosul, Islamic State digs in for guerrilla warfare

There is no confirmation whether the 39 Indians missing in Iraq since June 2014 are dead or alive, Iraq&#39;s ambassador in India Fakhri Al-Issa told WION in an interview.

The Iraqi envoy&rsquo;s remarks come four days after external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj cited unnamed sources as telling her deputy, junior foreign minister Gen V K Singh, during his recent visit to Erbil, Mosul and Baghdad &ldquo;that the missing Indians are most probably in a jail in Badush where fighting is still going on&rdquo;.

&ldquo;Personally, I have no information (about whether the Indians might be in Badush jail),&rdquo; the envoy said in the interview. &quot;I have not received any confirmed information from my government.&quot;

His remarks seem to be at variance with the information shared by the Indian government with the families of the 39 Indians who called on Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi on Sunday, 16 July.&nbsp;

Swaraj had said on the occasion that &ldquo;once the fighting stops in Badush and the area is cleared, we can probably find out the whereabouts of the missing nationals&rdquo;.

In contrast, the Iraqi envoy maintains that the fate of the 39 missing Indians is unknown. &quot;It is unknown for us. And sometimes as I said before no news is good news. So let&#39;s hope they are still alive,&quot; the Iraqi envoy said.

The envoy&#39;s words might come as a disappointment for the families of the missing Indians; they have not had closure for more than three years now.

According to him, thousands of Iraqis are missing, too, and the fear is that Daesh or the so-called Islamic State could have used some of those missing Indians and Iraqi nationals as slave labour or human shields.

He said it is &quot;quite possible&quot; they might be in Raqqa, the Syrian town which has emerged as the de-facto capital of the so-called Islamic State.

Ahead of Iraqi foreign minister Dr Ibrahim Abdul-Kareem Hamza Al-Eshaiker Al-Jaafari&#39;s visit to New Delhi, the Iraqi ambassador says that his country wants India to &ldquo;play a major role&rdquo; in rebuilding his war-torn country. Mosul, for example, is in ruins and would require upwards of $100 billion to rebuild it from the ground up in order to facilitate the return of displaced Iraqis.

In particular, the envoy said Iraq would welcome India&rsquo;s humanitarian assistance in the form of medical treatment for wounded Iraqi soldiers and civilians.

Asked about whether the defeat of the Islamic State necessarily means that the ideology is vanquished, too, the Iraqi envoy asserts that &ldquo;it is the responsibility of the whole world&rdquo; to combat the ideology that spawned terrorist groups such as the Islamic State in the first place.

&ldquo;We all know where this ideology is coming from&hellip; we all know who is supporting and funding them&hellip; and giving them safe haven and allowing them to move freely,&rdquo; he said in an oblique reference to some countries in West Asia.

The envoy added that he has no information whether the 39 Indians are in Badush jail

There is no confirmation whether the 39 Indians missing in Iraq since June 2014 are dead or alive, Iraq's ambassador in India Fakhri Al-Issa told WION in an interview. The Iraqi envoy’s remarks come four days after external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj cited unnamed sources as telling her deputy, junior foreign minister Gen V K Singh, during his recent visit to Erbil, Mosul and Baghdad “that the missing Indians are most probably in a jail in Badush where fighting is still going on”. “Personally, I have no information (about whether the Indians might be in Badush jail),” the envoy said in the interview. "I have not received any confirmed information from my government." His remarks seem to be at variance with the information shared by the Indian government with the families of the 39 Indians who called on Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi on Sunday, 16 July. Swaraj had said on the occasion that “once the fighting stops in Badush and the area is cleared, we can probably find out the whereabouts of the missing nationals”. In contrast, the Iraqi envoy maintains that the fate of the 39 missing Indians is unknown. "It is unknown for us. And sometimes as I said before no news is good news. So let's hope they are still alive," the Iraqi envoy said. The envoy's words might come as a disappointment for the families of the missing Indians; they have not had closure for more than three years now. According to him, thousands of Iraqis are missing, too, and the fear is that Daesh or the so-called Islamic State could have used some of those missing Indians and Iraqi nationals as slave labour or human shields. He said it is "quite possible" they might be in Raqqa, the Syrian town which has emerged as the de-facto capital of the so-called Islamic State. Ahead of Iraqi foreign minister Dr Ibrahim Abdul-Kareem Hamza Al-Eshaiker Al-Jaafari's visit to New Delhi, the Iraqi ambassador says that his country wants India to “play a major role” in rebuilding his war-torn country. Mosul, for example, is in ruins and would require upwards of $100 billion to rebuild it from the ground up in order to facilitate the return of displaced Iraqis. In particular, the envoy said Iraq would welcome India’s humanitarian assistance in the form of medical treatment for wounded Iraqi soldiers and civilians. Asked about whether the defeat of the Islamic State necessarily means that the ideology is vanquished, too, the Iraqi envoy asserts that “it is the responsibility of the whole world” to combat the ideology that spawned terrorist groups such as the Islamic State in the first place. “We all know where this ideology is coming from… we all know who is supporting and funding them… and giving them safe haven and allowing them to move freely,” he said in an oblique reference to some countries in West Asia.

Exclusive: Fate of 39 missing Indians unclear, Iraqi envoy to WION

The fate of thirty-nine&nbsp;Indians missing in Mosul is still uncertain, WION&#39;s correspondent &nbsp;Daniele Pagani who has been on the ground at Mosul for the past week reports that the jail where the Indians were believed&nbsp;to be held has been leveled to the ground.

India&#39;s junior external affairs minister VK Singh in a tweet on July 12 had said he had visited the Peshmarga frontline in Mosul area to find out information about Indians held by ISIS, however, the minister&nbsp;was unable to find concrete evidence of the presence of Indians in the region.

The tweet read: &quot;Visited Peshmarga frontline in Mosul area to seek information on Indians held by ISIS. Peshmerga still clearing ISIS held areas.&quot; The message&nbsp;was retweeted by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj later.

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Visited Peshmarga frontline in Mosul area to seek information on Indians held by ISIS. Peshmerga still clearing ISiS held areas. <a href="https://t.co/ND1Auczcz7">pic.twitter.com/ND1Auczcz7</a>
&mdash; Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) <a href="https://twitter.com/Gen_VKSingh/status/885109031634952192">July 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
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On Sunday, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had said the Indians may have been hauled up in a jail in Badush in northwest Mosul, however, WION correspondent Daniele reporting from Badush said the prison has been &quot;destroyed&quot;.

Sushma Swaraj had added that Iraqi&#39;s foreign minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari may bring fresh information about the missing Indians when he visits India on July 24.

The relatives of the thirty-nine&nbsp;missing Indians have been anxiously waiting for some good news and have been in touch with India&#39;s foreign ministry.&nbsp;

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On this special segment, we focus on the fate of the 39 Indians taken hostage by IS in Iraq. WION&#39;s Daniele Pagani brings you this exclusive report on the challenges ahead for post-war Mosul and the search for Indian hostages (WION)
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WION's Daniele Pagani who has been on the ground at Mosul for the past week reports that the jail has been leveled to the ground

The fate of thirty-nine Indians missing in Mosul is still uncertain, WION's correspondent Daniele Pagani who has been on the ground at Mosul for the past week reports that the jail where the Indians were believed to be held has been leveled to the ground. India's junior external affairs minister VK Singh in a tweet on July 12 had said he had visited the Peshmarga frontline in Mosul area to find out information about Indians held by ISIS, however, the minister was unable to find concrete evidence of the presence of Indians in the region. The tweet read: "Visited Peshmarga frontline in Mosul area to seek information on Indians held by ISIS. Peshmerga still clearing ISIS held areas." The message was retweeted by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj later. Visited Peshmarga frontline in Mosul area to seek information on Indians held by ISIS. Peshmerga still clearing ISiS held areas. pic.twitter.com/ND1Auczcz7 — Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) July 12, 2017 × On Sunday, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had said the Indians may have been hauled up in a jail in Badush in northwest Mosul, however, WION correspondent Daniele reporting from Badush said the prison has been "destroyed". Sushma Swaraj had added that Iraqi's foreign minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari may bring fresh information about the missing Indians when he visits India on July 24. The relatives of the thirty-nine missing Indians have been anxiously waiting for some good news and have been in touch with India's foreign ministry. On this special segment, we focus on the fate of the 39 Indians taken hostage by IS in Iraq. WION's Daniele Pagani brings you this exclusive report on the challenges ahead for post-war Mosul and the search for Indian hostages (WION) ×

WION Exclusive: Badush jail 'destroyed', fate of 39 Indians missing in Mosul still uncertain

Iraq&#39;s prime minister declared victory over Islamic State in Mosul on Monday, three years after the militants seized the city and made it the stronghold of a &quot;caliphate&quot; they said would take over the world.

&quot;I announce from here the end and the failure and the collapse of the terrorist state of falsehood and terrorism which the terrorist Daesh announced from Mosul,&quot; Haider al-Abadi said in a speech shown on state television, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

A 100,000-strong alliance of Iraqi government units, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shi&#39;ite militias launched the offensive to recapture the northern city from the militants in October, with key air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition.

Abadi, wearing a black military uniform and flanked by commanders from the security forces, thanked troops and the coalition. But he warned that more challenges lay ahead.

&quot;We have another mission ahead of us, to create stability, to build and clear Daesh cells and that requires an intelligence and security effort, and the unity which enabled us to fight Daesh,&quot; he said before raising an Iraqi flag.

Iraq declared a week-long holiday to mark the victory. People celebrated in the streets of the capital Baghdad and southern cities.

Abadi arrived in Mosul on Sunday to congratulate military commanders who have waged a nearly nine-month battle to recapture the city, many parts of which were reduced to rubble.

Gunfire and explosions could be heard earlier in the day as the last few Islamic State positions were pounded.

The coalition said in a statement Iraqi forces were in &quot;firm control&quot; of Mosul, but some areas still needed to be cleared of explosive devices and possible Islamic State fighters in hiding.

Around the time of Abadi&#39;s announcement, Islamic State released a statement claiming to have mounted an attack on Iraqi forces in Mosul. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Abadi had been meeting military and political officials in Mosul in an atmosphere of celebration that contrasts with the fear that spread after a few hundred Islamic State militants seized the city and the Iraqi army crumbled in July 2014.

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi shocked the Middle East and Western powers three years ago by appearing at the pulpit of Mosul&#39;s Grand al-Nuri Mosque to declare the caliphate and himself the leader of the world&#39;s Muslims.

A reign of terror followed which eventually alienated even many of those Sunni Muslims who had supported the group as allies against Iraq&#39;s Shi&#39;ite majority. Opponents of Islamic State were executed and such crimes as smoking a cigarette were punishable by public whipping.

Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the Shi&#39;ites have been politically dominant in Iraq but the country has been racked by ethnic conflict.

Revenge

In the aftermath of victory in Mosul, Abadi&#39;s government faces the task of managing the sectarian tensions there and elsewhere that enabled Islamic State to win support, and the threat of a wave of revenge violence in the city.

The coalition warned that victory in Mosul did not mark the end of the group&#39;s global threat.

&quot;Now it is time for all Iraqis to unite to ensure ISIS (Islamic State) is defeated across the rest of Iraq and that the conditions that led to the rise of ISIS in Iraq are not allowed to return again,&quot; Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend said in a statement.

Baghdadi has fled the city and his whereabouts are unknown. Reports have circulated that he is dead but Iraqi and Western officials say they cannot corroborate this.

His death or capture would not be the end of Islamic State, which still controls areas south and west of Mosul and which is now expected to take to the desert or mountains to wage an insurgency.

The militants are likely to keep trying to launch attacks on the West and inspiring violence by &quot;lone wolves&quot; or small groups of the kind mounted recently in Britain, France and elsewhere.

But the loss of Iraq&#39;s second-largest city is a grave body blow to Islamic State.

&quot;The recovery of Mosul is a significant step in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism,&quot; said the spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Islamic State is also under heavy pressure in its operational headquarters in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

Humanitarian crisis

The stench of corpses along Mosul&#39;s streets was a reminder of the gruelling urban warfare required to dislodge Islamic State.

Much of the city of 1.5 million has been destroyed in the fighting, its centuries-old stone buildings flattened by air strikes and other explosions. One of Islamic State&#39;s last acts was to blow up the historic al-Nuri mosque and its famous leaning minaret.

Thousands of people have been killed. The United Nations says 920,000 civilians have fled their homes since the military campaign began in October. Close to 700,000 people are still displaced.

&quot;It&#39;s a relief to know that the military campaign in Mosul is ending. The fighting may be over, but the humanitarian crisis is not,&quot; said U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande.&quot;Many of the people who have fled have lost everything. They need shelter, food, healthcare, water, sanitation and emergency kits. The levels of trauma we are seeing are some of the highest anywhere. What people have experienced is nearly unimaginable.&quot;

Iraqi soldiers relaxed. Some swam in the Tigris river which runs through the city. One wiped the sweat from his face with an Islamic State flag.

In the aftermath of victory in Mosul, Abadi's government faces the task of managing the sectarian tensions there and elsewhere that enabled Islamic State to win support, and the threat of a wave of revenge violence in the city

Iraq's prime minister declared victory over Islamic State in Mosul on Monday, three years after the militants seized the city and made it the stronghold of a "caliphate" they said would take over the world. "I announce from here the end and the failure and the collapse of the terrorist state of falsehood and terrorism which the terrorist Daesh announced from Mosul," Haider al-Abadi said in a speech shown on state television, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. A 100,000-strong alliance of Iraqi government units, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shi'ite militias launched the offensive to recapture the northern city from the militants in October, with key air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition. Abadi, wearing a black military uniform and flanked by commanders from the security forces, thanked troops and the coalition. But he warned that more challenges lay ahead. "We have another mission ahead of us, to create stability, to build and clear Daesh cells and that requires an intelligence and security effort, and the unity which enabled us to fight Daesh," he said before raising an Iraqi flag. Iraq declared a week-long holiday to mark the victory. People celebrated in the streets of the capital Baghdad and southern cities. Abadi arrived in Mosul on Sunday to congratulate military commanders who have waged a nearly nine-month battle to recapture the city, many parts of which were reduced to rubble. Gunfire and explosions could be heard earlier in the day as the last few Islamic State positions were pounded. The coalition said in a statement Iraqi forces were in "firm control" of Mosul, but some areas still needed to be cleared of explosive devices and possible Islamic State fighters in hiding. Around the time of Abadi's announcement, Islamic State released a statement claiming to have mounted an attack on Iraqi forces in Mosul. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Abadi had been meeting military and political officials in Mosul in an atmosphere of celebration that contrasts with the fear that spread after a few hundred Islamic State militants seized the city and the Iraqi army crumbled in July 2014. Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi shocked the Middle East and Western powers three years ago by appearing at the pulpit of Mosul's Grand al-Nuri Mosque to declare the caliphate and himself the leader of the world's Muslims. A reign of terror followed which eventually alienated even many of those Sunni Muslims who had supported the group as allies against Iraq's Shi'ite majority. Opponents of Islamic State were executed and such crimes as smoking a cigarette were punishable by public whipping. Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the Shi'ites have been politically dominant in Iraq but the country has been racked by ethnic conflict. Revenge In the aftermath of victory in Mosul, Abadi's government faces the task of managing the sectarian tensions there and elsewhere that enabled Islamic State to win support, and the threat of a wave of revenge violence in the city. The coalition warned that victory in Mosul did not mark the end of the group's global threat. "Now it is time for all Iraqis to unite to ensure ISIS (Islamic State) is defeated across the rest of Iraq and that the conditions that led to the rise of ISIS in Iraq are not allowed to return again," Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend said in a statement. Baghdadi has fled the city and his whereabouts are unknown. Reports have circulated that he is dead but Iraqi and Western officials say they cannot corroborate this. His death or capture would not be the end of Islamic State, which still controls areas south and west of Mosul and which is now expected to take to the desert or mountains to wage an insurgency. The militants are likely to keep trying to launch attacks on the West and inspiring violence by "lone wolves" or small groups of the kind mounted recently in Britain, France and elsewhere. But the loss of Iraq's second-largest city is a grave body blow to Islamic State. "The recovery of Mosul is a significant step in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism," said the spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Islamic State is also under heavy pressure in its operational headquarters in the Syrian city of Raqqa. Humanitarian crisis The stench of corpses along Mosul's streets was a reminder of the gruelling urban warfare required to dislodge Islamic State. Much of the city of 1.5 million has been destroyed in the fighting, its centuries-old stone buildings flattened by air strikes and other explosions. One of Islamic State's last acts was to blow up the historic al-Nuri mosque and its famous leaning minaret. Thousands of people have been killed. The United Nations says 920,000 civilians have fled their homes since the military campaign began in October. Close to 700,000 people are still displaced. "It's a relief to know that the military campaign in Mosul is ending. The fighting may be over, but the humanitarian crisis is not," said U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande."Many of the people who have fled have lost everything. They need shelter, food, healthcare, water, sanitation and emergency kits. The levels of trauma we are seeing are some of the highest anywhere. What people have experienced is nearly unimaginable." Iraqi soldiers relaxed. Some swam in the Tigris river which runs through the city. One wiped the sweat from his face with an Islamic State flag.

Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi declares victory over Islamic State in Mosul

Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city.

The defeat would be the biggest yet for the Islamic State group three years since it seized Mosul in a lightning offensive, swept across much of the country&#39;s Sunni Arab heartland and proclaimed a &quot;caliphate&quot; straddling Iraq and Syria.

The Iraqi forces launched their campaign to recapture Mosul in October, and since then IS has gone from holding the entire city to being trapped between security forces and the Tigris River on its western side.

Backed by a ferocious aerial bombing campaign by a US-led international coalition, the offensive has turned much of the city to rubble and forced tens of thousands of people to flee.

Diehard jihadists have been putting up fierce resistance in recent days, but their efforts to keep the Iraqi troops at bay look to be coming to an end.

&quot;An announcement is imminent,&quot; Brigadier General Robert Sofge told AFP by phone.

&quot;I don&#39;t want to speculate if it&#39;s today or tomorrow but I think it&#39;s going to be very soon,&quot; he added.

The jihadists that remain in Mosul are fighting to the death in a tiny area of just two blocks of the Old City next to the Tigris, Sofge said, and those that remain are &quot;desperate&quot;.

&#39;Fleeing with shaven beards&#39;

The general said some jihadists were trying to blend in with fleeing civilians by shaving their beards and changing their clothes, others were playing dead then detonating explosive vests as Iraqi forces close in.

Women had blown themselves up amid throngs of displaced civilians.

&quot;They are doing as much damage as they can during these final moves,&quot; Sofge said.&nbsp;

Iraq&#39;s Counter-Terrorism Service, which has spearheaded the assault, said the jihadists now only held a band of territory 100-150 metres (yards) deep and 300 metres wide.

&quot;The end of the battle is near, I would say two days, but it could go on,&quot; said CTS commander Abdel Ghani al-Assadi.

The battle for Mosul first began on October 17, 2016 and the fight grew tougher when Iraqi forces entered the warren of narrow alleys in the densely populated Old City.&nbsp;

Slowing the advance toward the final holdouts, IS fighters have placed booby traps and bombs in structures they occupied.&nbsp;

&quot;The enemy has strung IEDs (improvised explosive devices) all over the place, in every place, in every closet, in one case under a crib,&quot; said Sofge.&nbsp;

A final victory in Mosul would mark an epic milestone for the Iraqi security forces, who had crumbled in the face of an IS onslaught across Iraq in 2014.

&#39;Celebration and pride&#39;

&quot;They deserve every bit of a celebration and pride and sense of accomplishment that a military force can feel,&quot; Sofge said, offering a &quot;congratulations in advance in a great battle.&quot;

&quot;This fight in Mosul is not like anything modern militaries have done in our life time. You have to go back to World War II to find anything that&#39;s even close.&quot;

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared on Twitter late last month that &quot;we are seeing the end of the fake (IS) state&quot;.

That claim came after Iraqi forces retook what remained of Mosul&#39;s Great Mosque of al-Nuri and the adjacent Al-Hadba (&quot;The Hunchback&quot;) minaret.

IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared himself &quot;caliph&quot; at the mosque in his only public appearance in 2014.

But IS blew the two landmarks up on June 22, in what Abadi said was &quot;an official declaration of defeat&quot;.

In Mosul on Saturday, jubilant interior ministry forces -- whose mission has been declared over -- were seen flashing V-for-victory signs and posing for selfies in front of each other holding up IS&#39;s notorious black flag upside down.

But others were not celebrating as the fighting continued, and distraught women and children emerged covered in dust and clutching what few belongings they could carry.

An AFP team saw more than 60 women and children in tears having lost loved ones in the crossfire, coalition bombing, jihadist shelling and sniper fire.

Hungry and haggard, they said they had spent months being held as human shields by the jihadists.

One group of jihadists tried to escape across the Tigris from west Mosul but were killed by the Iraqi forces, a senior commander said on Saturday.

&quot;Some of them tried to cross to.... the far bank (of the river), but we have forces there,&quot; said Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi, a senior commander in Iraq&#39;s elite Counter-Terrorism Service.

The jihadists wanted to go back, but security forces &quot;fired on them and killed them,&quot; he said, without specifying how many died.

Iraq&#39;s Joint Operations Command said 35 IS members were killed and six captured when they tried to escape &quot;the advance of our forces&quot; in Mosul&#39;s Old City.

The recapture of Mosul will not however mark the end of the threat posed by IS, which holds territory elsewhere in Iraq and is able to carry out frequent bombings in government-held areas.

Jihadists have been putting up fierce resistance in recent days, but their efforts to keep the Iraqi troops at bay look to be coming to an end

Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. The defeat would be the biggest yet for the Islamic State group three years since it seized Mosul in a lightning offensive, swept across much of the country's Sunni Arab heartland and proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria. The Iraqi forces launched their campaign to recapture Mosul in October, and since then IS has gone from holding the entire city to being trapped between security forces and the Tigris River on its western side. Backed by a ferocious aerial bombing campaign by a US-led international coalition, the offensive has turned much of the city to rubble and forced tens of thousands of people to flee. Diehard jihadists have been putting up fierce resistance in recent days, but their efforts to keep the Iraqi troops at bay look to be coming to an end. "An announcement is imminent," Brigadier General Robert Sofge told AFP by phone. "I don't want to speculate if it's today or tomorrow but I think it's going to be very soon," he added. The jihadists that remain in Mosul are fighting to the death in a tiny area of just two blocks of the Old City next to the Tigris, Sofge said, and those that remain are "desperate". 'Fleeing with shaven beards' The general said some jihadists were trying to blend in with fleeing civilians by shaving their beards and changing their clothes, others were playing dead then detonating explosive vests as Iraqi forces close in. Women had blown themselves up amid throngs of displaced civilians. "They are doing as much damage as they can during these final moves," Sofge said. Iraq's Counter-Terrorism Service, which has spearheaded the assault, said the jihadists now only held a band of territory 100-150 metres (yards) deep and 300 metres wide. "The end of the battle is near, I would say two days, but it could go on," said CTS commander Abdel Ghani al-Assadi. The battle for Mosul first began on October 17, 2016 and the fight grew tougher when Iraqi forces entered the warren of narrow alleys in the densely populated Old City. Slowing the advance toward the final holdouts, IS fighters have placed booby traps and bombs in structures they occupied. "The enemy has strung IEDs (improvised explosive devices) all over the place, in every place, in every closet, in one case under a crib," said Sofge. A final victory in Mosul would mark an epic milestone for the Iraqi security forces, who had crumbled in the face of an IS onslaught across Iraq in 2014. 'Celebration and pride' "They deserve every bit of a celebration and pride and sense of accomplishment that a military force can feel," Sofge said, offering a "congratulations in advance in a great battle." "This fight in Mosul is not like anything modern militaries have done in our life time. You have to go back to World War II to find anything that's even close." Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared on Twitter late last month that "we are seeing the end of the fake (IS) state". That claim came after Iraqi forces retook what remained of Mosul's Great Mosque of al-Nuri and the adjacent Al-Hadba ("The Hunchback") minaret. IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared himself "caliph" at the mosque in his only public appearance in 2014. But IS blew the two landmarks up on June 22, in what Abadi said was "an official declaration of defeat". In Mosul on Saturday, jubilant interior ministry forces -- whose mission has been declared over -- were seen flashing V-for-victory signs and posing for selfies in front of each other holding up IS's notorious black flag upside down. But others were not celebrating as the fighting continued, and distraught women and children emerged covered in dust and clutching what few belongings they could carry. An AFP team saw more than 60 women and children in tears having lost loved ones in the crossfire, coalition bombing, jihadist shelling and sniper fire. Hungry and haggard, they said they had spent months being held as human shields by the jihadists. One group of jihadists tried to escape across the Tigris from west Mosul but were killed by the Iraqi forces, a senior commander said on Saturday. "Some of them tried to cross to.... the far bank (of the river), but we have forces there," said Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi, a senior commander in Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service. The jihadists wanted to go back, but security forces "fired on them and killed them," he said, without specifying how many died. Iraq's Joint Operations Command said 35 IS members were killed and six captured when they tried to escape "the advance of our forces" in Mosul's Old City. The recapture of Mosul will not however mark the end of the threat posed by IS, which holds territory elsewhere in Iraq and is able to carry out frequent bombings in government-held areas.

Mosul victory imminent: US general

Iraqi forces on Thursday announced that they had recaptured Mosul&rsquo;s iconic al-Nuri mosque.

This is the same mosque where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had made his only known public appearance in 2014.&nbsp;

&quot;Counter-Terrorism Service forces control the Nuri mosque and Al-Hadba (minaret),&quot; the Joint Operations Command said in a statement.

But Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi said that while Iraqi forces were close to retaking the mosque, they were still some 20 metres (yards) away.

The seizure of the 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque is a huge symbolic victory for the Iraqi forces fighting to recapture Mosul, which had served as Islamic State&#39;s de facto capital in Iraq.

&quot;Their fictitious state has fallen,&quot; an Iraqi military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, told state TV.

The mosque and its famed Al-Hadba (hunchback) leaning minaret were Mosul landmarks and also held major significance in the history of IS rule in Iraq.

The Al-Hadba minaret at the Grand al-Nuri Mosque was blown up by the Islamic State group last week.&nbsp;

The mosque and its famed Al-Hadba (hunchback) leaning minaret were Mosul landmarks and also held major significance in the history of IS rule in Iraq

Iraqi forces on Thursday announced that they had recaptured Mosul’s iconic al-Nuri mosque. This is the same mosque where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had made his only known public appearance in 2014. "Counter-Terrorism Service forces control the Nuri mosque and Al-Hadba (minaret)," the Joint Operations Command said in a statement. But Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi said that while Iraqi forces were close to retaking the mosque, they were still some 20 metres (yards) away. The seizure of the 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque is a huge symbolic victory for the Iraqi forces fighting to recapture Mosul, which had served as Islamic State's de facto capital in Iraq. "Their fictitious state has fallen," an Iraqi military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, told state TV. The mosque and its famed Al-Hadba (hunchback) leaning minaret were Mosul landmarks and also held major significance in the history of IS rule in Iraq. The Al-Hadba minaret at the Grand al-Nuri Mosque was blown up by the Islamic State group last week.

Iraqi forces capture iconic Mosul mosque where Islamic State declared 'caliphate'

After Russia&#39;s foreign ministry said yesterday there was a <a href="http://High degree of certainty IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead: Russian foreign ministry">&quot;high degree of certainty that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was dead&quot;,</a> Russia&#39;s Interfax news agency quoted the head of defence committee declaring that the IS leader is &quot;close to 100 per cent&quot; been killed, Reuters reported.&nbsp;

Viktor Ozerov, the head of&nbsp;defence committee told Reuters the defence ministry would not have released information about Baghdadi&#39;s death if it believed it could be later proved incorrect.

&quot;I think this information is close to 100 per cent,&quot; Ozerov told Interfax.&nbsp;

&quot;The fact that Islamic State has still not shown him anywhere also adds to our confidence that al-Baghdadi has been killed,&quot; he added with some conviction.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/islamic-state-blows-up-landmark-great-mosque-of-al-nuri-and-famous-leaning-minaret-in-mosul-17125">Also Read: Watch: Iraq says IS has blown up 800-yr-old Mosul mosque from where it declared &#39;caliphate&#39;</a>

However, the US hasn&#39;t corroborated his death and the IS has not released any statement on Baghdadi.

Last Friday, the Russian Army had said the Islamic State leader was killed in an airstrike in Syria last month, however, it was still seeking to clarify his death. In a statement, the army had said Sukhoi warplanes carried out a 10-minute night-time strike on May 28 at a location near Raqa, where IS leaders had gathered to plan a pullout by militants from the group&#39;s stronghold.

The Iraq-born world&#39;s most-wanted man has been rumoured wounded or killed a number of times in the past. &nbsp;

Viktor Ozerov, the head of?defence committee said the defence ministry would not have released information about Baghdadi's death if it believed it could be later proved incorrect

After Russia's foreign ministry said yesterday there was a "high degree of certainty that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was dead", Russia's Interfax news agency quoted the head of defence committee declaring that the IS leader is "close to 100 per cent" been killed, Reuters reported. Viktor Ozerov, the head of defence committee told Reuters the defence ministry would not have released information about Baghdadi's death if it believed it could be later proved incorrect. "I think this information is close to 100 per cent," Ozerov told Interfax. "The fact that Islamic State has still not shown him anywhere also adds to our confidence that al-Baghdadi has been killed," he added with some conviction. Also Read: Watch: Iraq says IS has blown up 800-yr-old Mosul mosque from where it declared 'caliphate' However, the US hasn't corroborated his death and the IS has not released any statement on Baghdadi. Last Friday, the Russian Army had said the Islamic State leader was killed in an airstrike in Syria last month, however, it was still seeking to clarify his death. In a statement, the army had said Sukhoi warplanes carried out a 10-minute night-time strike on May 28 at a location near Raqa, where IS leaders had gathered to plan a pullout by militants from the group's stronghold. The Iraq-born world's most-wanted man has been rumoured wounded or killed a number of times in the past.

Information about Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's death close to 100% correct: Russian defence committee

Russia&#39;s foreign ministry said there was a high degree of certainty that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was dead, Russia&#39;s news agency RIA has reported.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/islamic-state-blows-up-landmark-great-mosque-of-al-nuri-and-famous-leaning-minaret-in-mosul-17125">Watch: Iraq says IS has blown up 800-yr-old Mosul mosque from where it declared &#39;caliphate&#39;</a>

The Russian army had said last Friday it had hit Islamic State leaders in an airstrike in Syria last month and was seeking to verify whether IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed.

In a statement, the army had said Sukhoi warplanes carried out a 10-minute night-time strike on May 28 at a location near Raqa, where IS leaders had gathered to plan a pullout by militants from the group&#39;s stronghold. 
&nbsp; 
The Iraqi-born world&#39;s most-wanted man has been rumoured wounded or killed a number of times in the past.

The Russian army had said last Friday it had hit Islamic State leaders in an airstrike in Syria last month

Russia's foreign ministry said there was a high degree of certainty that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was dead, Russia's news agency RIA has reported. Watch: Iraq says IS has blown up 800-yr-old Mosul mosque from where it declared 'caliphate' The Russian army had said last Friday it had hit Islamic State leaders in an airstrike in Syria last month and was seeking to verify whether IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed. In a statement, the army had said Sukhoi warplanes carried out a 10-minute night-time strike on May 28 at a location near Raqa, where IS leaders had gathered to plan a pullout by militants from the group's stronghold. The Iraqi-born world's most-wanted man has been rumoured wounded or killed a number of times in the past.

High degree of certainty IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead: Russian foreign ministry

French journalist Stephan Villeneuve has been killed after a mine exploded in Mosul, the head of the news department at public broadcaster France Televisions said Tuesday.

Two other French journalists were injured in the explosion in Iraq&#39;s second city that killed Kurdish reporter Bakhtyiar Addad, according to France Televisions and global journalist rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

(AFP)

He was killed by a mine explosion that injured two other French journalists

French journalist Stephan Villeneuve has been killed after a mine exploded in Mosul, the head of the news department at public broadcaster France Televisions said Tuesday. Two other French journalists were injured in the explosion in Iraq's second city that killed Kurdish reporter Bakhtyiar Addad, according to France Televisions and global journalist rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders. (AFP)

French journalist Stephan Villeneuve killed in Mosul: French media

Iraqi forces started storming the Islamic State-held Old City of Mosul on Sunday, according to a released&nbsp;military statement. Mosul used to be the Islamic State (IS) capital in Iraq, but now the historic district is the last still under the militants&nbsp;control.

It is quintessential guerilla warfare here,&nbsp;fought in a densely-populated labyrinth&nbsp;of narrow alleyways.&nbsp;Combat&nbsp;is often conducted house by house.

About 100,000 civilians remain trapped here, stuck&nbsp;with little food, water and medicine. Hospital access is&nbsp;limited, too, according to the United Nations.

&quot;This is the last chapter&quot; in the offensive to take Mosul, said Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Asadi, the commander of the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) elite units.

The US-backed Iraqi offensive to capture Mosul entered its ninth month on Saturday. As part of a diabolical tactic to keep civilians in as human shields,&nbsp;IS&nbsp;snipers&nbsp;shoot&nbsp;at families trying to escape&nbsp;on foot or by boat across the Tigris River, the UN&nbsp;said on Friday.

Iraqi government forces regained eastern Mosul this&nbsp;January, then a month later began the offensive on the western side that includes the Old City.

The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the &quot;caliphate&quot; that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared in a speech from an historic mosque in the Old City three years ago, covering parts of Iraq and Syria.

Here is a look back at WION&#39;s report from the end of 2016, at an earlier stage in&nbsp;the fight to take&nbsp;Mosul back from the IS.

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The pentagon has admitted to carrying out another airstrike that killed more than 200 civilians including women and children. The Iraqi vice president has called it a humanitarian disaster (APTN,WION)
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(With inputs from Reuters)

'This is the last chapter' in the offensive to take Mosul, said Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Asadi

Iraqi forces started storming the Islamic State-held Old City of Mosul on Sunday, according to a released military statement. Mosul used to be the Islamic State (IS) capital in Iraq, but now the historic district is the last still under the militants control. It is quintessential guerilla warfare here, fought in a densely-populated labyrinth of narrow alleyways. Combat is often conducted house by house. About 100,000 civilians remain trapped here, stuck with little food, water and medicine. Hospital access is limited, too, according to the United Nations. "This is the last chapter" in the offensive to take Mosul, said Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Asadi, the commander of the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) elite units. The US-backed Iraqi offensive to capture Mosul entered its ninth month on Saturday. As part of a diabolical tactic to keep civilians in as human shields, IS snipers shoot at families trying to escape on foot or by boat across the Tigris River, the UN said on Friday. Iraqi government forces regained eastern Mosul this January, then a month later began the offensive on the western side that includes the Old City. The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate" that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared in a speech from an historic mosque in the Old City three years ago, covering parts of Iraq and Syria. Here is a look back at WION's report from the end of 2016, at an earlier stage in the fight to take Mosul back from the IS. The pentagon has admitted to carrying out another airstrike that killed more than 200 civilians including women and children. The Iraqi vice president has called it a humanitarian disaster (APTN,WION) × (With inputs from Reuters)

Iraq forces start storming Mosul's Old City held by IS

Iraqi forces launched an assault Sunday to retake Mosul&#39;s Old City, the last district still held by the Islamic State group three years after the jihadists seized the northern city and declared their &quot;caliphate&quot;.

Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance.

The push into Mosul&#39;s Old City -- a densely populated warren of narrow alleyways on the western side of Iraq&#39;s second city -- marks the culmination of a months-long campaign by Iraqi forces to retake IS&#39;s last major urban stronghold in the country.

The loss of Mosul would mark the effective end of the Iraqi portion of the cross-border &quot;caliphate&quot; IS declared in the summer of 2014 after seizing large parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

The military announced the start of the assault in a statement, saying the army, counter-terrorism forces and federal police had &quot;launched an attack on the Old City&quot;.

Machinegun fire crackled and plumes of smoke rose above the Old City as surrounding Iraqi positions were hit with heavy mortar fire.&nbsp;

On the first floor of a building on a street lined with destroyed car repair shops, a commander holding a tablet computer feverishly called in coordinates for an air strike against a suicide car bomb approaching his position.

Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi, a senior commander with the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), said the operation was advancing slowly &quot;to preserve civilian lives as we breach the enemy`s defence lines&quot;.&quot;Our forces have moved in on foot because the alleys are very narrow,&quot; he said. &quot;The strategy has changed compared to other operations. There is no room for our vehicles to manoeuvre and there are many civilians.&quot;&nbsp;

The United Nations said Friday that IS may be holding more than 100,000 civilians as human shields in the Old City.

Surrounded by Iraqi forces on three sides and blocked on the other by the Tigris River that runs through Mosul, the jihadists had no choice but a fight to the finish, Assadi said.

&quot;This is the last episode of the Daesh show,&quot; he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.&nbsp;

&quot;It&#39;s our most difficult operation. Fighting is fierce because it`s their last stronghold... They have nowhere to flee.&quot;

He said he hoped the operation could be concluded before Eid -- the festival marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, expected around June 25 or 26 -- &quot;but I think it is going to take longer&quot;.

Iraqi forces launched the battle for Mosul in October, retaking the eastern part of the city in January and starting the operation for its western part the following month.The International Rescue Committee, a major aid group operating in Iraq, warned of the huge risks facing already-traumatised civilians.

&quot;This will be a terrifying time for around 100,000 people still trapped in Mosul`s Old City and now at risk of getting caught up in the fierce street fighting to come,&quot; the IRC`s acting country director&nbsp; 
Nora Love said in a statement.

&quot;Both coalition and Iraqi forces must do everything in their power to keep civilians safe during these final stages of the battle for Mosul.&quot;

Since the battle to retake Mosul began, an estimated 862,000 people have been displaced from the city, although 195,000 have since returned, mainly to its eastern side.

On Sunday, only yards from Iraqi forward positions and falling mortars, civilians could be seen cleaning their homes on streets lined with rubble.

Some people appeared to have never left while others, carrying boxes of food and canvas bags stuffed with clothes, were returning to areas the security forces retook from IS only a few days earlier.

It was in Mosul in July 2014 that IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance, urging Muslims worldwide to move to the group`s &quot;caliphate&quot; straddling Iraq and Syria.

The jihadists have since lost most of the territory they once controlled in the face of US-backed offensives in Iraq and in Syria, where an alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces are advancing on their last Syrian bastion Raqa.

It is not clear how many IS members remain in Mosul, where many foreign fighters have joined local jihadists since the city was taken.

&quot;The locals in Daesh will shave their beards and try to blend in with the civilians as they always do,&quot; Assadi of the CTS said. &quot;The foreigners will fight hard and eventually get killed.&quot;

The fall of Mosul was the Iraqi forces` worst defeat in the war with IS.&nbsp;

Regaining it would cap a major turnaround for security forces, who broke away and ran despite outnumbering the jihadists who attacked the city in 2014.

(AFP)

Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces

Iraqi forces launched an assault Sunday to retake Mosul's Old City, the last district still held by the Islamic State group three years after the jihadists seized the northern city and declared their "caliphate". Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. The push into Mosul's Old City -- a densely populated warren of narrow alleyways on the western side of Iraq's second city -- marks the culmination of a months-long campaign by Iraqi forces to retake IS's last major urban stronghold in the country. The loss of Mosul would mark the effective end of the Iraqi portion of the cross-border "caliphate" IS declared in the summer of 2014 after seizing large parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria. The military announced the start of the assault in a statement, saying the army, counter-terrorism forces and federal police had "launched an attack on the Old City". Machinegun fire crackled and plumes of smoke rose above the Old City as surrounding Iraqi positions were hit with heavy mortar fire. On the first floor of a building on a street lined with destroyed car repair shops, a commander holding a tablet computer feverishly called in coordinates for an air strike against a suicide car bomb approaching his position. Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi, a senior commander with the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), said the operation was advancing slowly "to preserve civilian lives as we breach the enemy`s defence lines"."Our forces have moved in on foot because the alleys are very narrow," he said. "The strategy has changed compared to other operations. There is no room for our vehicles to manoeuvre and there are many civilians." The United Nations said Friday that IS may be holding more than 100,000 civilians as human shields in the Old City. Surrounded by Iraqi forces on three sides and blocked on the other by the Tigris River that runs through Mosul, the jihadists had no choice but a fight to the finish, Assadi said. "This is the last episode of the Daesh show," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. "It's our most difficult operation. Fighting is fierce because it`s their last stronghold... They have nowhere to flee." He said he hoped the operation could be concluded before Eid -- the festival marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, expected around June 25 or 26 -- "but I think it is going to take longer". Iraqi forces launched the battle for Mosul in October, retaking the eastern part of the city in January and starting the operation for its western part the following month.The International Rescue Committee, a major aid group operating in Iraq, warned of the huge risks facing already-traumatised civilians. "This will be a terrifying time for around 100,000 people still trapped in Mosul`s Old City and now at risk of getting caught up in the fierce street fighting to come," the IRC`s acting country director Nora Love said in a statement. "Both coalition and Iraqi forces must do everything in their power to keep civilians safe during these final stages of the battle for Mosul." Since the battle to retake Mosul began, an estimated 862,000 people have been displaced from the city, although 195,000 have since returned, mainly to its eastern side. On Sunday, only yards from Iraqi forward positions and falling mortars, civilians could be seen cleaning their homes on streets lined with rubble. Some people appeared to have never left while others, carrying boxes of food and canvas bags stuffed with clothes, were returning to areas the security forces retook from IS only a few days earlier. It was in Mosul in July 2014 that IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance, urging Muslims worldwide to move to the group`s "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria. The jihadists have since lost most of the territory they once controlled in the face of US-backed offensives in Iraq and in Syria, where an alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces are advancing on their last Syrian bastion Raqa. It is not clear how many IS members remain in Mosul, where many foreign fighters have joined local jihadists since the city was taken. "The locals in Daesh will shave their beards and try to blend in with the civilians as they always do," Assadi of the CTS said. "The foreigners will fight hard and eventually get killed." The fall of Mosul was the Iraqi forces` worst defeat in the war with IS. Regaining it would cap a major turnaround for security forces, who broke away and ran despite outnumbering the jihadists who attacked the city in 2014. (AFP)

Iraqi Forces launch assault to retake Mosul's Old City

A Pentagon investigation has concluded that at least 105 civilians died in an anti-IS strike in the Iraqi city of Mosul in March, officials said Thursday, but they blamed the toll on a secondary explosion of jihadist munitions.

A US aircraft delivered a single precision-guided bomb into a building in west Mosul on March 17, with the aim of killing a pair of snipers on the second story of the structure in the al-Jadida neighbourhood, which at the time was under Islamic State control.

But the bomb also caused a large cache of IS explosives to detonate, leading to the catastrophic collapse of the building that had civilians sheltering downstairs, officials said.

&quot;The secondary explosion triggered a rapid failure of the structure which killed the two ISIS snipers, 101 civilians sheltered in the bottom floors of the structure and four civilians in the neighbouring structure to the west,&quot; said US Air Force Brigadier General Matt Isler, the lead investigator.

Isler said another 36 civilians who are &quot;believed to be connected&quot; to the building remained unaccounted for, but they had likely fled the area shortly before the strike. He said he was &quot;very confident&quot; in the final toll.

It was the single deadliest incident for civilians stemming from a coalition strike since anti-IS operations in Iraq and Syria began nearly three years ago.&nbsp;

The United States had previously only acknowledged that it &quot;probably&quot; had a role in the civilian deaths.&nbsp;

The investigation comes amid broader claims that US forces under President Donald Trump are killing more civilians as the military fulfills a plan to &quot;annihilate&quot; the Islamic State group.&nbsp;

The Pentagon denies this and says its rules of engagement remain unchanged and insists its precision-targeting abilities are the best in the world.

Defeat Islamic State

Officials say the US takes every precaution to avoid hitting civilians, including by aborting missile strikes at the last moment if a civilian unexpectedly wanders into the target zone.

&quot;Our condolences go out to all those that were affected,&quot; said Major General Joe Martin.&nbsp;

&quot;The coalition takes every feasible measure to protect civilians from harm. The best way to protect civilians is to defeat ISIS.&quot;

No condolence payments have been made, Isler said, though such a move has not been ruled out.

According to Isler, Iraqi counterterrorism service (CTS) troops had been moving into the al-Jadida neighbourhood in west Mosul when they came under fire from the IS snipers.&nbsp;

Mosul was a former IS bastion but the jihadists now only control about 10 percent of the city.

Bad weather had kept surveillance drones from gathering video of the area for two days, and CTS and coalition forces -- not knowing civilians were in the building -- ultimately called in a strike, Isler said.

The precision-guided bomb selected -- a GBU-38 carrying 192 pounds of explosives -- was rigged to cause only localised damage to the building, but it ignited a large amount of ordnance which, unbeknownst to the coalition, IS fighters had previously placed inside.

&quot;Post-blast analysis detected residues common to explosives used by ISIS, but not consistent with the explosive content of a GBU-38 munition,&quot; Central Command said in a statement.

&quot;Engineering and weapons analysis indicates that the GBU-38 should have resulted in no more than 16-20 percent damage to the structure, localised to the front of the second floor.&quot;

Officials said IS may have deliberately rigged the building to explode and then used the snipers to intentionally provoke an air strike.

As of the most recent Centcom official tally, a total of 396 civilians had been killed since the beginning of the bombing campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria nearly three years ago.

The 105 figure from the March incident would push that number beyond 500.

Airwars, a London-based collective of journalists and researchers that tracks civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria, claims a minimum of 3,350 people have died in coalition strikes.&nbsp;

(AFP)

The Pentagon investigation blamed the toll on a secondary explosion of jihadist munitions

A Pentagon investigation has concluded that at least 105 civilians died in an anti-IS strike in the Iraqi city of Mosul in March, officials said Thursday, but they blamed the toll on a secondary explosion of jihadist munitions. A US aircraft delivered a single precision-guided bomb into a building in west Mosul on March 17, with the aim of killing a pair of snipers on the second story of the structure in the al-Jadida neighbourhood, which at the time was under Islamic State control. But the bomb also caused a large cache of IS explosives to detonate, leading to the catastrophic collapse of the building that had civilians sheltering downstairs, officials said. "The secondary explosion triggered a rapid failure of the structure which killed the two ISIS snipers, 101 civilians sheltered in the bottom floors of the structure and four civilians in the neighbouring structure to the west," said US Air Force Brigadier General Matt Isler, the lead investigator. Isler said another 36 civilians who are "believed to be connected" to the building remained unaccounted for, but they had likely fled the area shortly before the strike. He said he was "very confident" in the final toll. It was the single deadliest incident for civilians stemming from a coalition strike since anti-IS operations in Iraq and Syria began nearly three years ago. The United States had previously only acknowledged that it "probably" had a role in the civilian deaths. The investigation comes amid broader claims that US forces under President Donald Trump are killing more civilians as the military fulfills a plan to "annihilate" the Islamic State group. The Pentagon denies this and says its rules of engagement remain unchanged and insists its precision-targeting abilities are the best in the world. Defeat Islamic State Officials say the US takes every precaution to avoid hitting civilians, including by aborting missile strikes at the last moment if a civilian unexpectedly wanders into the target zone. "Our condolences go out to all those that were affected," said Major General Joe Martin. "The coalition takes every feasible measure to protect civilians from harm. The best way to protect civilians is to defeat ISIS." No condolence payments have been made, Isler said, though such a move has not been ruled out. According to Isler, Iraqi counterterrorism service (CTS) troops had been moving into the al-Jadida neighbourhood in west Mosul when they came under fire from the IS snipers. Mosul was a former IS bastion but the jihadists now only control about 10 percent of the city. Bad weather had kept surveillance drones from gathering video of the area for two days, and CTS and coalition forces -- not knowing civilians were in the building -- ultimately called in a strike, Isler said. The precision-guided bomb selected -- a GBU-38 carrying 192 pounds of explosives -- was rigged to cause only localised damage to the building, but it ignited a large amount of ordnance which, unbeknownst to the coalition, IS fighters had previously placed inside. "Post-blast analysis detected residues common to explosives used by ISIS, but not consistent with the explosive content of a GBU-38 munition," Central Command said in a statement. "Engineering and weapons analysis indicates that the GBU-38 should have resulted in no more than 16-20 percent damage to the structure, localised to the front of the second floor." Officials said IS may have deliberately rigged the building to explode and then used the snipers to intentionally provoke an air strike. As of the most recent Centcom official tally, a total of 396 civilians had been killed since the beginning of the bombing campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria nearly three years ago. The 105 figure from the March incident would push that number beyond 500. Airwars, a London-based collective of journalists and researchers that tracks civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria, claims a minimum of 3,350 people have died in coalition strikes. (AFP)

At least 105 civilians died in anti-IS strike in Mosul in March: Pentagon

The Iraqi Ministry of Interior, Qasim al-Araji, launched an investigation&nbsp;into accusations&nbsp;of torture and abuse allegedly&nbsp;committed by the Iraqi elite forces of the Emergency Response Division (ERD) during the Mosul offensive. &nbsp;

Since October 2016&nbsp;several units of the Iraqi army fought&nbsp;to uproot the Islamic State (IS)&nbsp;from Mosul, which now&nbsp;occupies only abouty ten per cent of Mosul&nbsp;when before it had full control.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The decision to investigate the ERD&nbsp;comes after the German magazine Der Spiegel published an article and a few pictures taken by Iraqi photographer Ali Arkady, while he was following the ERD&#39;s operations. &nbsp;

Arkady, who is also a&nbsp;documentary filmmaker, was allowed full access for a project aiming to&nbsp;present&nbsp;the effort that soldiers were making in Mosul. His project took a sudden turn when he started witnessing civilians suspected of being Islamic State supporters being hanged to the ceiling, blindfolded and beaten up by ERD soldiers. He recounts&nbsp;brutality, torture and random killing&nbsp;based only on rumours and mere suspicion. A man, for instance, was tortured to death only because his elder brother joined the Islamic State.&nbsp;

The ERD is currently conducting street-to-street operations against the last pockets where IS militants still hold control. The unit is part of the special forces directly answering to the ministry of interior and has been trained mainly by the US army. They often conduct night raids and rapid incursions.&nbsp;

Before publishing his reportage, Ali Arkady moved out of Iraq with his family, fearing for their safety. Since then, he repeatedly received threats. &nbsp;

The Emergency Response Division issued a statement dismissing the report and stating that it&nbsp;is based on &quot;fabricated and unreal images&quot;.&nbsp;

Brett McGurk, the US Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS, expressed his country&#39;s position on the matter on Twitter:&nbsp;

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Iraqi forces have bravely placed civilian protection as top priority throughout <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mosul?src=hash">#Mosul</a> campaign, at great risk to their own personnel. 1/2
&mdash; Brett McGurk (@brett_mcgurk) <a href="https://twitter.com/brett_mcgurk/status/867163128714248192">May 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Individuals or units failing to uphold that standard do a disservice to their sacrifice and must be investigated &amp; held accountable. 2/2
&mdash; Brett McGurk (@brett_mcgurk) <a href="https://twitter.com/brett_mcgurk/status/867163758560333824">May 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

Arkady&#39;s work opens a window on something many journalists were afraid of while following the Mosul offensive on the ground. Many documented and photographed&nbsp;anybody&nbsp;merely suspected of supporting the IS&nbsp;while they were being carried away on the back of pickups and armoured vehicles. No one was allowed to follow these people&nbsp;in order to understand how they were&nbsp;questioned.&nbsp;

The main narrative was&nbsp;Iraqi forces as brave liberators freeing civilians from the pure evil&nbsp;of the Islamic State. The Iraqi army was quite devoted in showing their humanitarian side whenever reporters were around. &nbsp;

The Der Spiegel report is a reminder of&nbsp;the long-standing problem of access for civilian witnesses in war zones. If independent actors are not allowed to follow every step of a conflict, the battlefield will always protect and hide all abuses and violations. This is valid for every army &ndash; regular or irregular &ndash; in the world.&nbsp;

But war is war, and is always dirty. There is no gallantry and too many times armies, insurgents and terrorists profit from&nbsp;theft, human trafficking and every form of violation. In almost every country at war&nbsp;there are no sensitisation programs&nbsp;for regular armies on how to behave. This is especially needed in countries like Iraq, which have witnessed long conflicts. Any 20-year-old Iraqi has barely memories of a peacful country, and this shapes his judgment.

Conflicts exasperate relations between neighbours. Arrests based merely&nbsp;on the word of&nbsp;locals--which can be based on rumours, pressure from the army, and fraught for many other reasons--cannot be the norm. The risk of personal vendettas&nbsp;is too high. An official investigation and a fair trial are the need of the hour if a government wants to start walking towards a reconciliation process.&nbsp;

(WION with inputs from Reuters) 
&nbsp;

Iraq's ministry of interior requested investigation after German magazine Der Spiegel published pictures of soldiers torturing civilians

The Iraqi Ministry of Interior, Qasim al-Araji, launched an investigation into accusations of torture and abuse allegedly committed by the Iraqi elite forces of the Emergency Response Division (ERD) during the Mosul offensive. Since October 2016 several units of the Iraqi army fought to uproot the Islamic State (IS) from Mosul, which now occupies only abouty ten per cent of Mosul when before it had full control. The decision to investigate the ERD comes after the German magazine Der Spiegel published an article and a few pictures taken by Iraqi photographer Ali Arkady, while he was following the ERD's operations. Arkady, who is also a documentary filmmaker, was allowed full access for a project aiming to present the effort that soldiers were making in Mosul. His project took a sudden turn when he started witnessing civilians suspected of being Islamic State supporters being hanged to the ceiling, blindfolded and beaten up by ERD soldiers. He recounts brutality, torture and random killing based only on rumours and mere suspicion. A man, for instance, was tortured to death only because his elder brother joined the Islamic State. The ERD is currently conducting street-to-street operations against the last pockets where IS militants still hold control. The unit is part of the special forces directly answering to the ministry of interior and has been trained mainly by the US army. They often conduct night raids and rapid incursions. Before publishing his reportage, Ali Arkady moved out of Iraq with his family, fearing for their safety. Since then, he repeatedly received threats. The Emergency Response Division issued a statement dismissing the report and stating that it is based on "fabricated and unreal images". Brett McGurk, the US Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS, expressed his country's position on the matter on Twitter: Iraqi forces have bravely placed civilian protection as top priority throughout #Mosul campaign, at great risk to their own personnel. 1/2 — Brett McGurk (@brett_mcgurk) May 23, 2017 × Individuals or units failing to uphold that standard do a disservice to their sacrifice and must be investigated & held accountable. 2/2 — Brett McGurk (@brett_mcgurk) May 23, 2017 × Arkady's work opens a window on something many journalists were afraid of while following the Mosul offensive on the ground. Many documented and photographed anybody merely suspected of supporting the IS while they were being carried away on the back of pickups and armoured vehicles. No one was allowed to follow these people in order to understand how they were questioned. The main narrative was Iraqi forces as brave liberators freeing civilians from the pure evil of the Islamic State. The Iraqi army was quite devoted in showing their humanitarian side whenever reporters were around. The Der Spiegel report is a reminder of the long-standing problem of access for civilian witnesses in war zones. If independent actors are not allowed to follow every step of a conflict, the battlefield will always protect and hide all abuses and violations. This is valid for every army – regular or irregular – in the world. But war is war, and is always dirty. There is no gallantry and too many times armies, insurgents and terrorists profit from theft, human trafficking and every form of violation. In almost every country at war there are no sensitisation programs for regular armies on how to behave. This is especially needed in countries like Iraq, which have witnessed long conflicts. Any 20-year-old Iraqi has barely memories of a peacful country, and this shapes his judgment. Conflicts exasperate relations between neighbours. Arrests based merely on the word of locals--which can be based on rumours, pressure from the army, and fraught for many other reasons--cannot be the norm. The risk of personal vendettas is too high. An official investigation and a fair trial are the need of the hour if a government wants to start walking towards a reconciliation process. (WION with inputs from Reuters)

Iraqi forces accused of brutality and torture in Mosul, investigation to start

US-backed Iraqi forces pushed deeper into the last pocket of Mosul controlled by&nbsp;Islamic&nbsp;State&nbsp;militants on Sunday as the battle for the city approaches an end after seven months of gruelling urban combat.

The militants have now been dislodged from all but a handful of districts in the western half of Mosul including the Old City, where&nbsp;Islamic&nbsp;State&nbsp;is expected to make its last stand, taking advantage of narrow streets and its dense population.

Brigadier General Yahya Rasoul said the area controlled by&nbsp;Islamic&nbsp;State&nbsp;was no more than 9 per cent of west Mosul, which is bisected by the River Tigris.

&quot;It&#39;s a very small area,&quot; he told Reuters. &quot;God willing, this is the final phase.&quot;

The elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) stormed the Ureibi and Rifaie districts at dawn on Sunday, according to a&nbsp;statement from the Joint Operations Command.

At the same time, the army&#39;s ninth division and the Interior Ministry&#39;s elite Emergency Response Division attacked the&nbsp;Islamic&nbsp;State&nbsp;bastion of 17 Tammouz.

&quot;Daesh (Islamic&nbsp;State) is drawing its last dying breath,&quot; the commander of the ninth division, Lieutenant General Qasim Nazzal, told&nbsp;state&nbsp;television on Sunday. &quot;Daesh fighters are broken and quickly retreating from fronts.&quot;

Vastly outnumbered by the forces arrayed against them, the militants are fighting back with suicide car bombs and snipers embedded among hundreds of thousands of civilians they are effectively holding hostage.

Conditions in the shrinking area under militant control are increasingly desperate as civilians resort to eating weeds and many are killed under heavy bombardment.

The number of people fleeing Mosul has more than doubled to about 10,000 a day since Friday, according to Iraqi government figures.

Defence analyst and former general Jasim al-Bahadli said the strategy adopted by Iraqi commanders was to splinter the remaining militants into smaller groups and attack them on multiple fronts to disrupt their command and control.

&quot;By taking back all the districts surrounding the Old City, the militants will have no chance to receive any back-up or reinforcements,&quot; he said.

(Reuters)

Vastly outnumbered by the forces arrayed against them, the militants are fighting back with suicide car bombs and snipers embedded among hundreds of thousands of civilians they are effectively holding hostage.

US-backed Iraqi forces pushed deeper into the last pocket of Mosul controlled by Islamic State militants on Sunday as the battle for the city approaches an end after seven months of gruelling urban combat. The militants have now been dislodged from all but a handful of districts in the western half of Mosul including the Old City, where Islamic State is expected to make its last stand, taking advantage of narrow streets and its dense population. Brigadier General Yahya Rasoul said the area controlled by Islamic State was no more than 9 per cent of west Mosul, which is bisected by the River Tigris. "It's a very small area," he told Reuters. "God willing, this is the final phase." The elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) stormed the Ureibi and Rifaie districts at dawn on Sunday, according to a statement from the Joint Operations Command. At the same time, the army's ninth division and the Interior Ministry's elite Emergency Response Division attacked the Islamic State bastion of 17 Tammouz. "Daesh (Islamic State) is drawing its last dying breath," the commander of the ninth division, Lieutenant General Qasim Nazzal, told state television on Sunday. "Daesh fighters are broken and quickly retreating from fronts." Vastly outnumbered by the forces arrayed against them, the militants are fighting back with suicide car bombs and snipers embedded among hundreds of thousands of civilians they are effectively holding hostage. Conditions in the shrinking area under militant control are increasingly desperate as civilians resort to eating weeds and many are killed under heavy bombardment. The number of people fleeing Mosul has more than doubled to about 10,000 a day since Friday, according to Iraqi government figures. Defence analyst and former general Jasim al-Bahadli said the strategy adopted by Iraqi commanders was to splinter the remaining militants into smaller groups and attack them on multiple fronts to disrupt their command and control. "By taking back all the districts surrounding the Old City, the militants will have no chance to receive any back-up or reinforcements," he said. (Reuters)

Iraqi forces attack Islamic State in Mosul as battle approaches final stage

Pushing carts loaded with bags, babies and the elderly, hundreds of people fled Mosul on Saturday after Iraqi forces retook another district in the west of the city from Islamic State.

After walking for miles, families were taken by bus from a government checkpoint in the south of the city to camps housing more than 410,000 people displaced since the offensive to retake Mosul began in October.

&quot;We left with no water, food or electricity,&quot; said 63-year-old Abu Qahtan, the elder of a group of 41 people from five families. &quot;We left with the clothes on our backs.&quot;

Iraqi forces have taken much of Mosul from the militants who overran the city in June 2014.&nbsp;

The military now controls the eastern districts and are making advances in the west. Islamic State fighters are surrounded in the northwest and are using booby traps, sniper and mortar fire to defend themselves.

Artillery and gun fire could be heard as families arrived from Hay al-Tanak district which they said was still half controlled by the militants.

The US-trained Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) has retaken the nearby al-Thaura district, a statement said.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians are still trapped in western Mosul, where Iraqi forces are making slow progress against Islamic State in what is a labyrinth of narrow streets.

As of April 20, some 503,000 people have been displaced from Mosul, of which 91,000 have returned, a spokeswoman for the UN&nbsp;refugee agency UNHCR said, citing government figures.&nbsp;

Mosul, Iraq&#39;s second-largest city, is the militants&#39; last urban stronghold in the country.

(Reuters)

As of April 20, some 503,000 people have been displaced from Mosul, of which 91,000 have returned

Pushing carts loaded with bags, babies and the elderly, hundreds of people fled Mosul on Saturday after Iraqi forces retook another district in the west of the city from Islamic State. After walking for miles, families were taken by bus from a government checkpoint in the south of the city to camps housing more than 410,000 people displaced since the offensive to retake Mosul began in October. "We left with no water, food or electricity," said 63-year-old Abu Qahtan, the elder of a group of 41 people from five families. "We left with the clothes on our backs." Iraqi forces have taken much of Mosul from the militants who overran the city in June 2014. The military now controls the eastern districts and are making advances in the west. Islamic State fighters are surrounded in the northwest and are using booby traps, sniper and mortar fire to defend themselves. Artillery and gun fire could be heard as families arrived from Hay al-Tanak district which they said was still half controlled by the militants. The US-trained Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) has retaken the nearby al-Thaura district, a statement said. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are still trapped in western Mosul, where Iraqi forces are making slow progress against Islamic State in what is a labyrinth of narrow streets. As of April 20, some 503,000 people have been displaced from Mosul, of which 91,000 have returned, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency UNHCR said, citing government figures. Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, is the militants' last urban stronghold in the country. (Reuters)

As Iraqi forces retake another western district, hundreds more join Mosul exodus

The Islamic State (IS) terror organization killed 25 civilians Sunday for attempting to escape from areas under its control in the western sector of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a security official told EFE.

IS executed the civilians in the al-Tank neighborhood of western Mosul for trying to reach areas liberated by Iraqi forces, the head of the security council of Nineveh province, Mohamed Ibrahim al-Bayati, said.

The bodies of the victims were then hung on the district&#39;s light poles, the security official said.

IS targeted the areas of al-Matahen and al-Yarmouk with 40 mortar shells, causing panic among residents, al-Bayati said.

Abdel-Amir Rashid Yarallah, commander of the joint operation to liberate Mosul - codenamed &quot;We Are Coming, Nineveh&quot; - said in a statement that counterterrorism forces have liberated the entire al-Matahen neighborhood after days of intense fighting against IS.

On February&nbsp;19, Iraqi forces launched the final phase of the offensive to drive extremist fighters from Mosul, where IS declared its so-called caliphate in 2014.

(EFE)

The bodies of the victims were then hung on the district's light poles, a security official said

The Islamic State (IS) terror organization killed 25 civilians Sunday for attempting to escape from areas under its control in the western sector of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a security official told EFE. IS executed the civilians in the al-Tank neighborhood of western Mosul for trying to reach areas liberated by Iraqi forces, the head of the security council of Nineveh province, Mohamed Ibrahim al-Bayati, said. The bodies of the victims were then hung on the district's light poles, the security official said. IS targeted the areas of al-Matahen and al-Yarmouk with 40 mortar shells, causing panic among residents, al-Bayati said. Abdel-Amir Rashid Yarallah, commander of the joint operation to liberate Mosul - codenamed "We Are Coming, Nineveh" - said in a statement that counterterrorism forces have liberated the entire al-Matahen neighborhood after days of intense fighting against IS. On February 19, Iraqi forces launched the final phase of the offensive to drive extremist fighters from Mosul, where IS declared its so-called caliphate in 2014. (EFE)

IS kills 25 civilians for attempting to flee Iraqi city

More than 300,000 people have fled Mosul since the start of the US-backed campaign to dislodge Islamic State from the northern Iraqi city in October, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

The United Nations&#39; International Organisation for Migration estimates the number of people currently displaced to be 302,400, the office of the UN&nbsp;Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq said in a statement.

Iraqi forces, backed by a US-led coalition, have taken most districts of Mosul, Islamic State&#39;s last major stronghold in Iraq and the city where the group&#39;s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared a caliphate nearly three years ago.

They are now battling to take the northwestern part from Islamic State but the civilian death toll has mounted in the densely populated Old City, where the militants are dug in amongst residents.

More people are expected to flee the fighting and camps for the displaced north and east of Mosul are expanding, the UN&nbsp;statement said.

(Reuters)

Iraqi forces, backed by a US-led coalition, have taken most districts of Mosul, Islamic State's last major stronghold in Iraq

More than 300,000 people have fled Mosul since the start of the US-backed campaign to dislodge Islamic State from the northern Iraqi city in October, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The United Nations' International Organisation for Migration estimates the number of people currently displaced to be 302,400, the office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq said in a statement. Iraqi forces, backed by a US-led coalition, have taken most districts of Mosul, Islamic State's last major stronghold in Iraq and the city where the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared a caliphate nearly three years ago. They are now battling to take the northwestern part from Islamic State but the civilian death toll has mounted in the densely populated Old City, where the militants are dug in amongst residents. More people are expected to flee the fighting and camps for the displaced north and east of Mosul are expanding, the UN statement said. (Reuters)

Number of people displaced from Mosul exceeds 300,000: United Nations

Iaqi special forces and police fought Islamic State militants to edge closer to the al-Nuri mosque in western Mosul on Wednesday, tightening their control around the landmark site and in Baghdad a suicide truck bomb killed at least 17 people.

The close-quarters fighting is focussed on the Old City surrounding the mosque, where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate nearly three years ago across territory controlled by the group in both Iraq and Syria.

Thousands of residents have fled from IS-held areas inside Mosul, the militants&#39; biggest remaining stronghold in Iraq. But tens of thousands more are still trapped inside homes, caught in the fighting, shelling and air strikes as Iraqi forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition advance in the west.

Helicopters circling west Mosul strafed IS positions beyond the city train station, the site of heavy back-and-forth fighting in recent days, and thick black smoke rose into the sky, Reuters reporters on the ground said.

Heavy sustained gunfire could be heard from the Old City area, where militants are hiding among residents and using the alleyways, traditional family homes and snaking narrow roads to their advantage, fleeing residents say.

&quot;Federal police forces have imposed full control over the Qadheeb al-Ban area and the al-Malab sports stadium in the western wing of Old Mosul and are besieging militants around the al-Nuri mosque,&quot; federal police chief Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat said in a statement.

Rapid Response elite interior ministry troops were advancing on the edge of the Old City, clambering over garden walls. Islamic State responded with rocket fire, streaking the sky with white smoke plumes.

&quot;There are teams going into the Old City since yesterday,&quot; said Rapid Response official Abd al-Amir.

Iraqi troops shot down at least one suspected IS drone. The militants have been using small commercial models to spy and drop munitions on Iraqi military positions.

A suicide truck bomber detonated his explosives in southern Baghdad, killing at least 17 people and wounding around 60 more, police sources said, in the latest attack on the capital since Islamic State began to lose ground in the offensive.

Civilians at risk

With the battle entering the densely populated areas of western Mosul, civilian casualties are becoming more of a risk. The United Nations says several hundred civilians have been killed in the last month, and residents say IS militants are using them as human shields.

Pope Francis said at his weekly audience in St Peter&#39;s Square on Wednesday that it was &quot;urgent and imperative&quot; to protect civilians in Iraq, and he expressed concern about those trapped in western Mosul.

The senior U.S. commander in Iraq acknowledged on Tuesday that the U.S.-led coalition probably had a role in an explosion in Mosul believed to have killed scores of civilians, but said Islamic State could also be to blame.

As investigators probe the March 17 blast, Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend said increases in casualties were to be expected as the war entered its deadliest phase.

Local officials and eyewitnesses say as many as 240 people may have been killed in the Al-Jadida district when a huge blast caused a building to collapse, burying families inside. Rescue workers are still pulling bodies out of the site.

One local health official said on Wednesday 250 bodies had been recovered from the site, though that is higher than Iraqi military estimates. But rescue efforts have been hampered by a lack of equipment and poor security.

Huge blast

What exactly happened on March 17 is still unclear.

Iraqi military command has said one line of investigation is whether Islamic State rigged explosives that ultimately caused the blast that destroyed buildings. Iraqi military said there was no indication the building was hit directly by the strike.

Eyewitnesses have said a strike may have hit a massive truck bomb parked by the building. Others say families were either sheltering in a basement or had been forced inside.

&quot;My initial assessment is that we probably had a role in these casualties,&quot; Townsend, the senior coalition commander in Iraq, told a Pentagon news briefing.

&quot;What I don&#39;t know is were they (the civilians) gathered there by the enemy? We still have some assessments to do. ... I would say this, that it sure looks like they were.&quot;

The incident has heightened fears for the safety of civilians - an important concern for Iraq&#39;s Shi&#39;ite-led government as it tries to avoid alienating Mosul&#39;s mostly Sunni population.

The United Nations rights chief said on Tuesday at least 307 civilians had been killed and 273 wounded in western Mosul since Feb. 17, saying Islamic State was herding residents into booby-trapped buildings as human shields and firing on those who tried to flee.

(Reuters)

The close-quarters fighting is focussed on the Old City surrounding the mosque, where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate nearly three years ago

Iaqi special forces and police fought Islamic State militants to edge closer to the al-Nuri mosque in western Mosul on Wednesday, tightening their control around the landmark site and in Baghdad a suicide truck bomb killed at least 17 people. The close-quarters fighting is focussed on the Old City surrounding the mosque, where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate nearly three years ago across territory controlled by the group in both Iraq and Syria. Thousands of residents have fled from IS-held areas inside Mosul, the militants' biggest remaining stronghold in Iraq. But tens of thousands more are still trapped inside homes, caught in the fighting, shelling and air strikes as Iraqi forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition advance in the west. Helicopters circling west Mosul strafed IS positions beyond the city train station, the site of heavy back-and-forth fighting in recent days, and thick black smoke rose into the sky, Reuters reporters on the ground said. Heavy sustained gunfire could be heard from the Old City area, where militants are hiding among residents and using the alleyways, traditional family homes and snaking narrow roads to their advantage, fleeing residents say. "Federal police forces have imposed full control over the Qadheeb al-Ban area and the al-Malab sports stadium in the western wing of Old Mosul and are besieging militants around the al-Nuri mosque," federal police chief Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat said in a statement. Rapid Response elite interior ministry troops were advancing on the edge of the Old City, clambering over garden walls. Islamic State responded with rocket fire, streaking the sky with white smoke plumes. "There are teams going into the Old City since yesterday," said Rapid Response official Abd al-Amir. Iraqi troops shot down at least one suspected IS drone. The militants have been using small commercial models to spy and drop munitions on Iraqi military positions. A suicide truck bomber detonated his explosives in southern Baghdad, killing at least 17 people and wounding around 60 more, police sources said, in the latest attack on the capital since Islamic State began to lose ground in the offensive. Civilians at risk With the battle entering the densely populated areas of western Mosul, civilian casualties are becoming more of a risk. The United Nations says several hundred civilians have been killed in the last month, and residents say IS militants are using them as human shields. Pope Francis said at his weekly audience in St Peter's Square on Wednesday that it was "urgent and imperative" to protect civilians in Iraq, and he expressed concern about those trapped in western Mosul. The senior U.S. commander in Iraq acknowledged on Tuesday that the U.S.-led coalition probably had a role in an explosion in Mosul believed to have killed scores of civilians, but said Islamic State could also be to blame. As investigators probe the March 17 blast, Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend said increases in casualties were to be expected as the war entered its deadliest phase. Local officials and eyewitnesses say as many as 240 people may have been killed in the Al-Jadida district when a huge blast caused a building to collapse, burying families inside. Rescue workers are still pulling bodies out of the site. One local health official said on Wednesday 250 bodies had been recovered from the site, though that is higher than Iraqi military estimates. But rescue efforts have been hampered by a lack of equipment and poor security. Huge blast What exactly happened on March 17 is still unclear. Iraqi military command has said one line of investigation is whether Islamic State rigged explosives that ultimately caused the blast that destroyed buildings. Iraqi military said there was no indication the building was hit directly by the strike. Eyewitnesses have said a strike may have hit a massive truck bomb parked by the building. Others say families were either sheltering in a basement or had been forced inside. "My initial assessment is that we probably had a role in these casualties," Townsend, the senior coalition commander in Iraq, told a Pentagon news briefing. "What I don't know is were they (the civilians) gathered there by the enemy? We still have some assessments to do. ... I would say this, that it sure looks like they were." The incident has heightened fears for the safety of civilians - an important concern for Iraq's Shi'ite-led government as it tries to avoid alienating Mosul's mostly Sunni population. The United Nations rights chief said on Tuesday at least 307 civilians had been killed and 273 wounded in western Mosul since Feb. 17, saying Islamic State was herding residents into booby-trapped buildings as human shields and firing on those who tried to flee. (Reuters)

Iraqi forces battle to Mosul mosque,17 killed in Baghdad truck blast

Iraqi&#39;s military said on Sunday 61 bodies had been recovered from a collapsed building that was boobytrapped by Islamic State (IS) in Western Mosul, but there was no sign it had been hit by a coalition strike though a large vehicle bomb was discovered nearby.

The statement was a response to reports by eyewitnesses and local officials that as many as 200 bodies had been pulled from a collapsed building after a coalition strike last week targeted IS militants and equipment in al Jadida district area.

The incident remains far from clear and details are difficult to confirm as Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State to recapture the densely populated parts of the western half of Mosul, the militant group&#39;s last stronghold in Iraq.

The US-led coalition on Saturday said it carried out a strike on Islamic State militants and equipment in the area of the reported deaths, but it was still investigating. It did not give figures for any casualties or details on targets.

The Iraqi military command said eyewitnesses had told troops that the buildings were boobytrapped and militants had forced residents inside basements to use them as human shields. IS militants had also fired on troops from those houses, it said.

But its figures were lower than other local officials. A local municipal official said on Saturday, 240 bodies had been pulled from the rubble. A local lawmaker and two eyewitnesses say a coalition air strike may have targeted a large truck bomb, triggering a blast that collapsed buildings.

The incident has highlighted the complexity of fighting around Western Mosul&#39;s Old City, where Islamic State are hiding among families and using the narrow streets and alleys to their advantage, forcing Iraqi forces into street fighting.

(Reuters)

Iraq's military says there was no sign the building had been hit by a coalition strike, though a large vehicle bomb was discovered nearby

Iraqi's military said on Sunday 61 bodies had been recovered from a collapsed building that was boobytrapped by Islamic State (IS) in Western Mosul, but there was no sign it had been hit by a coalition strike though a large vehicle bomb was discovered nearby. The statement was a response to reports by eyewitnesses and local officials that as many as 200 bodies had been pulled from a collapsed building after a coalition strike last week targeted IS militants and equipment in al Jadida district area. The incident remains far from clear and details are difficult to confirm as Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State to recapture the densely populated parts of the western half of Mosul, the militant group's last stronghold in Iraq. The US-led coalition on Saturday said it carried out a strike on Islamic State militants and equipment in the area of the reported deaths, but it was still investigating. It did not give figures for any casualties or details on targets. The Iraqi military command said eyewitnesses had told troops that the buildings were boobytrapped and militants had forced residents inside basements to use them as human shields. IS militants had also fired on troops from those houses, it said. But its figures were lower than other local officials. A local municipal official said on Saturday, 240 bodies had been pulled from the rubble. A local lawmaker and two eyewitnesses say a coalition air strike may have targeted a large truck bomb, triggering a blast that collapsed buildings. The incident has highlighted the complexity of fighting around Western Mosul's Old City, where Islamic State are hiding among families and using the narrow streets and alleys to their advantage, forcing Iraqi forces into street fighting. (Reuters)

61 bodies pulled from collapsed Mosul site, says Iraqi military

The US&nbsp;military said on Saturday a US-led coalition strike had hit an Islamic State-held area of the Iraqi city of Mosul where residents and officials say dozens of civilians have been killed as result of an air raid.

The incident occurred on March 17 but what exactly happened is still unclear as IS militants fight to defend the areas of the city they still control.

Iraqi government forces paused in their push to recapture western Mosul on Saturday because of the high rate of civilian casualties, a security forces spokesman said, a move apparently motivated by the incident.

The United Nations also expressed its profound concern, saying it was &quot;stunned by this terrible loss of life&quot;.

Initial reports from residents and Iraqi officials in the past week said dozens of people had been killed or wounded in Mosul&#39;s al-Jadidah district after air strikes by Iraqi or US-led coalition forces.

US&nbsp;Central Command, which oversees US&nbsp;military Middle East operations, said on Saturday that a review had determined that US-led coalition operation, requested by the Iraqi government, had struck Islamic State fighters and equipment &quot;at the location corresponding to allegations of civilian casualties&quot;.

It was investigating to determine the facts and the validity of reports of civilian casualties, it said. It did not specify which coalition nation carried out the strike.

Reports on the numbers of civilian dead and wounded have varied but Civil Defence chief Brigadier Mohammed Al-Jawari told reporters on Thursday that rescue teams had recovered 40 bodies from collapsed buildings. Many other lay buried in the rubble.

The exact cause of the collapses was not clear but a local lawmaker and two residents said on Thursday the air strikes may have detonated an IS truck filled with explosives, destroying buildings in the heavily-populated area.

The speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Salim al-Jabouri, said in a statement: &quot;What&#39;s happening in the west part of Mosul is extremely serious and could not be tolerated under any circumstances.&quot;

Up to 600,000 civilians are still believed to remain in IS-held areas of Mosul, complicating the government offensive tactically but also politically as the Shi&#39;ite Muslim-led government seeks to avoid alienating people in the mainly Sunni city.

&nbsp;

NEW TACTICS

Residents escaping besieged western Mosul have told of Iraqi and US-led coalition air strikes demolishing buildings and killing civilians in several cases.

The insurgents have also used civilians as human shields and opened fire on them as they try to escape Islamic State-held neighbourhoods, fleeing residents said.

&quot;The recent high death toll among civilians inside the Old City forced us to halt operations to review our plans,&quot; a Federal Police spokesman said on Saturday. &quot;It&#39;s a time for weighing new offensive plans and tactics. No combat operations are to go on.&quot;

The US-backed offensive to drive Islamic State out of Mosul, now in its sixth month, has recaptured the entire eastern side of Mosul and about half of the west.

But advances have stuttered in the last two weeks as fighting enters the narrow alleys of the Old City, home to the al-Nuri mosque where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate spanning large areas of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

&quot;We need to make sure that taking out Daesh (Islamic State) from the Old City will not cost unwanted high casualties among civilians. We need surgical accurate operations to target terrorists without causing collateral damage among residents,&quot; the Federal Police spokesman said.

A US&nbsp;deputy commanding general for the coalition told Reuters on Friday that the solution could lie in a change of tactics. The Iraqi military is assessing opening up another front and isolating the Old City, US&nbsp;Army Brigadier General John Richardson said.

Fleeing residents have described grim living conditions inside IS-held parts of Mosul, saying there was no running water or electricity and no food coming in.

But families are streaming out of the northern city, Iraq&#39;s second largest, in their thousands each day, headed for cold, crowded camps or to stay with relatives. Hunger and fighting are making life unbearable inside.

The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights said that since the campaign on western Mosul began on February&nbsp;19, unconfirmed reports said nearly 700 civilians had been killed by government and coalition air strikes or Islamic State actions.

The militants have used car bombs, snipers and mortar fire to counter the offensive. They have also stationed themselves in homes belonging to Mosul residents to fire at Iraqi troops, often drawing air or artillery strikes that have killed civilians.

The United Nations chief humanitarian official, Lise Grande, said civilians were at extreme risk as the fighting intensified and all sides must to do their utmost to avoid such casualties.

&quot;International humanitarian law is clear. Parties to the conflict &mdash; all parties &ndash; are obliged to do everything possible to protect civilians. This means that combatants cannot use people as human shields and cannot imperil lives through indiscriminate use of fire-power,&quot; she said in a statement.

(Reuters)

Air strikes may have detonated an IS truck filled with explosives, destroying buildings in the heavily-populated area

The US military said on Saturday a US-led coalition strike had hit an Islamic State-held area of the Iraqi city of Mosul where residents and officials say dozens of civilians have been killed as result of an air raid. The incident occurred on March 17 but what exactly happened is still unclear as IS militants fight to defend the areas of the city they still control. Iraqi government forces paused in their push to recapture western Mosul on Saturday because of the high rate of civilian casualties, a security forces spokesman said, a move apparently motivated by the incident. The United Nations also expressed its profound concern, saying it was "stunned by this terrible loss of life". Initial reports from residents and Iraqi officials in the past week said dozens of people had been killed or wounded in Mosul's al-Jadidah district after air strikes by Iraqi or US-led coalition forces. US Central Command, which oversees US military Middle East operations, said on Saturday that a review had determined that US-led coalition operation, requested by the Iraqi government, had struck Islamic State fighters and equipment "at the location corresponding to allegations of civilian casualties". It was investigating to determine the facts and the validity of reports of civilian casualties, it said. It did not specify which coalition nation carried out the strike. Reports on the numbers of civilian dead and wounded have varied but Civil Defence chief Brigadier Mohammed Al-Jawari told reporters on Thursday that rescue teams had recovered 40 bodies from collapsed buildings. Many other lay buried in the rubble. The exact cause of the collapses was not clear but a local lawmaker and two residents said on Thursday the air strikes may have detonated an IS truck filled with explosives, destroying buildings in the heavily-populated area. The speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Salim al-Jabouri, said in a statement: "What's happening in the west part of Mosul is extremely serious and could not be tolerated under any circumstances." Up to 600,000 civilians are still believed to remain in IS-held areas of Mosul, complicating the government offensive tactically but also politically as the Shi'ite Muslim-led government seeks to avoid alienating people in the mainly Sunni city. NEW TACTICS Residents escaping besieged western Mosul have told of Iraqi and US-led coalition air strikes demolishing buildings and killing civilians in several cases. The insurgents have also used civilians as human shields and opened fire on them as they try to escape Islamic State-held neighbourhoods, fleeing residents said. "The recent high death toll among civilians inside the Old City forced us to halt operations to review our plans," a Federal Police spokesman said on Saturday. "It's a time for weighing new offensive plans and tactics. No combat operations are to go on." The US-backed offensive to drive Islamic State out of Mosul, now in its sixth month, has recaptured the entire eastern side of Mosul and about half of the west. But advances have stuttered in the last two weeks as fighting enters the narrow alleys of the Old City, home to the al-Nuri mosque where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate spanning large areas of Iraq and Syria in 2014. "We need to make sure that taking out Daesh (Islamic State) from the Old City will not cost unwanted high casualties among civilians. We need surgical accurate operations to target terrorists without causing collateral damage among residents," the Federal Police spokesman said. A US deputy commanding general for the coalition told Reuters on Friday that the solution could lie in a change of tactics. The Iraqi military is assessing opening up another front and isolating the Old City, US Army Brigadier General John Richardson said. Fleeing residents have described grim living conditions inside IS-held parts of Mosul, saying there was no running water or electricity and no food coming in. But families are streaming out of the northern city, Iraq's second largest, in their thousands each day, headed for cold, crowded camps or to stay with relatives. Hunger and fighting are making life unbearable inside. The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights said that since the campaign on western Mosul began on February 19, unconfirmed reports said nearly 700 civilians had been killed by government and coalition air strikes or Islamic State actions. The militants have used car bombs, snipers and mortar fire to counter the offensive. They have also stationed themselves in homes belonging to Mosul residents to fire at Iraqi troops, often drawing air or artillery strikes that have killed civilians. The United Nations chief humanitarian official, Lise Grande, said civilians were at extreme risk as the fighting intensified and all sides must to do their utmost to avoid such casualties. "International humanitarian law is clear. Parties to the conflict — all parties – are obliged to do everything possible to protect civilians. This means that combatants cannot use people as human shields and cannot imperil lives through indiscriminate use of fire-power," she said in a statement. (Reuters)

US confirms coalition strike in Mosul district where dozens of civilians reported killed

Islamic State gunmen are opening fire on men, women and children as they try to flee Mosul under cover of darkness, civilians who escaped the besieged Iraqi city said on Friday.

Hungry and exhausted, thousands sloshed through the mud, past wrecked buildings and shattered pavements, to reach an army checkpoint.

Some carried suitcases or bags, others had fled with just the clothes on their backs. They came by foot or piled into carts, and some pushed relatives in wheelchairs.

A black-uniformed intelligence officer said about 6,000 people had come through on Thursday, the most he had seen at this exit, and a similar flow had poured in on Friday since about 4 am.

Relieved to reach the safety of the checkpoint, some of those escaping described running a gauntlet of fire.

&quot;The snipers are professional, they do not care. Anybody that moves, they kill,&quot; said Faris Khader, from al-Abar district.

The battle for Mosul, Islamic State&#39;s last major urban stronghold in Iraq, has now lasted more than five months.

Government forces recaptured the east side in January and are besieging the militants on the western side of the Tigris river.

At least 500,000 civilians are trapped inside, battered by the government and US-led air strikes and artillery, caught in the crossfire of ground fighting, or targeted by IS gunmen. The militants sometimes use residents as human shields.

Khader blamed the government and international coalition for some of the death and mayhem. An IS sniper had been firing from the roof of his home when an air strike hit, he said.

&quot;There are many people dead under the rubble. Some in my family died. Nobody can take the bodies out. They were killed by an air strike.&quot;

&#39;No food, no water&#39;

Omar, a car mechanic, described life under IS.

&quot;It&#39;s very difficult. There&#39;s no food, no water. They are killing a lot of people. They kill anyone who goes out, they kill them in the street.

&quot;We have no money. We have suffered for three years,&quot; he said, clutching his young son to his shoulder.

Salwan, 19, pushed his sister Noor, 21, who is paralysed and deaf, for more than two hours in her wheelchair to reach safety after their house was blown up. They were shot at during the trek, he said.

Sweat poured from the face of Khaled Khalil as he trudged up the last stretch of the debris-strewn boulevard with his young son slung on his shoulder and his wife and three other children behind. He had no coat, no bag, and just a pair of plastic sandals on his mud-spattered feet.

&quot;I came like this. We had the chance so we fled,&quot; said the 36-year-old. &quot;We have been travelling since yesterday. We are very tired but now we are safe.&quot;

He was a carpenter but his shop had been destroyed.

Taking the risk

Then an army jeep drove up with a wounded man on a stretcher. He was laid on the ground by an abandoned building.

Bashar Hazem, 43, and Ali, 29, had carried out their brother Maan, 32, overnight. He was shot in the right thigh 20 days ago. He was bandaged up in the Jamhori hospital inside an IS-held area but left for home after three days because it was dangerous. He had no painkillers and grimaced as his brothers spoke.

&quot;We had no food. That&#39;s why we decided to risk escaping,&quot; Bashar said.

They made a run with a big group in the early hours of Friday. But IS gunmen starting shooting at them and the group was split up. They saw three women shot in the legs.

&quot;Even if you are injured, they shoot at you. Our family is still inside but they are coming soon, God willing,&quot; Ali said.

At the checkpoint, soldiers separated the women and children from the men. They waited, tired but visibly relieved, for buses to take them to a United Nations reception camp at Hamman al-Alil about 20 km (15 miles) away.

The men were gathered in a park, sitting on the ground under guard by soldiers and awaiting questioning.

&quot;We do a first check here. Anyone we suspect of working with Daesh (IS), we pull to one side,&quot; the intelligence officer said.

Some IS fighters had tried to leave disguised as women, their faces concealed by veils, he said, scrutinising arrivals.

The men were then loaded onto trucks and taken to a centre for more thorough checks.

An avuncular Sergeant Hussam Imad told jokes to a group of women and children waiting to be transported to the reception camp. They boarded the bus with smiles on their faces.

(Reuters)

'The snipers are professional, they do not care. Anybody that moves, they kill,' said Faris Khader, from al-Abar district

Islamic State gunmen are opening fire on men, women and children as they try to flee Mosul under cover of darkness, civilians who escaped the besieged Iraqi city said on Friday. Hungry and exhausted, thousands sloshed through the mud, past wrecked buildings and shattered pavements, to reach an army checkpoint. Some carried suitcases or bags, others had fled with just the clothes on their backs. They came by foot or piled into carts, and some pushed relatives in wheelchairs. A black-uniformed intelligence officer said about 6,000 people had come through on Thursday, the most he had seen at this exit, and a similar flow had poured in on Friday since about 4 am. Relieved to reach the safety of the checkpoint, some of those escaping described running a gauntlet of fire. "The snipers are professional, they do not care. Anybody that moves, they kill," said Faris Khader, from al-Abar district. The battle for Mosul, Islamic State's last major urban stronghold in Iraq, has now lasted more than five months. Government forces recaptured the east side in January and are besieging the militants on the western side of the Tigris river. At least 500,000 civilians are trapped inside, battered by the government and US-led air strikes and artillery, caught in the crossfire of ground fighting, or targeted by IS gunmen. The militants sometimes use residents as human shields. Khader blamed the government and international coalition for some of the death and mayhem. An IS sniper had been firing from the roof of his home when an air strike hit, he said. "There are many people dead under the rubble. Some in my family died. Nobody can take the bodies out. They were killed by an air strike." 'No food, no water' Omar, a car mechanic, described life under IS. "It's very difficult. There's no food, no water. They are killing a lot of people. They kill anyone who goes out, they kill them in the street. "We have no money. We have suffered for three years," he said, clutching his young son to his shoulder. Salwan, 19, pushed his sister Noor, 21, who is paralysed and deaf, for more than two hours in her wheelchair to reach safety after their house was blown up. They were shot at during the trek, he said. Sweat poured from the face of Khaled Khalil as he trudged up the last stretch of the debris-strewn boulevard with his young son slung on his shoulder and his wife and three other children behind. He had no coat, no bag, and just a pair of plastic sandals on his mud-spattered feet. "I came like this. We had the chance so we fled," said the 36-year-old. "We have been travelling since yesterday. We are very tired but now we are safe." He was a carpenter but his shop had been destroyed. Taking the risk Then an army jeep drove up with a wounded man on a stretcher. He was laid on the ground by an abandoned building. Bashar Hazem, 43, and Ali, 29, had carried out their brother Maan, 32, overnight. He was shot in the right thigh 20 days ago. He was bandaged up in the Jamhori hospital inside an IS-held area but left for home after three days because it was dangerous. He had no painkillers and grimaced as his brothers spoke. "We had no food. That's why we decided to risk escaping," Bashar said. They made a run with a big group in the early hours of Friday. But IS gunmen starting shooting at them and the group was split up. They saw three women shot in the legs. "Even if you are injured, they shoot at you. Our family is still inside but they are coming soon, God willing," Ali said. At the checkpoint, soldiers separated the women and children from the men. They waited, tired but visibly relieved, for buses to take them to a United Nations reception camp at Hamman al-Alil about 20 km (15 miles) away. The men were gathered in a park, sitting on the ground under guard by soldiers and awaiting questioning. "We do a first check here. Anyone we suspect of working with Daesh (IS), we pull to one side," the intelligence officer said. Some IS fighters had tried to leave disguised as women, their faces concealed by veils, he said, scrutinising arrivals. The men were then loaded onto trucks and taken to a centre for more thorough checks. An avuncular Sergeant Hussam Imad told jokes to a group of women and children waiting to be transported to the reception camp. They boarded the bus with smiles on their faces. (Reuters)

Islamic State gunmen target civilians fleeing Mosul by night

Aid convoys linked to paramilitary groups have begun making regular deliveries to Mosul districts recaptured from Islamic State (IS), bringing much-needed relief but also fears that their Shi&#39;ite backers are encroaching into the mostly Sunni city.

The columns of trucks and cars carrying food, water and blankets from Shi&#39;ite cities in southern Iraq are welcomed by hungry and war-weary residents of Mosul, Islamic State&#39;s last major Iraqi stronghold.

But their affiliation with the Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) - a state-run umbrella including Shi&#39;ite militias - is clear, as they fly the flags of those groups and are often accompanied by heavily armed men.

Local leaders and many among the Mosul population say it could be the first sign of Shi&#39;ite parties trying to extend their influence as the battle against the jihadists winds up. Perversely, they say, the humanitarian help raises the spectre of sectarian strife in a country torn apart by it.

The PMF says the convoys are charitable and nothing more, and that the weapons are to protect those bringing supplies on long drives from the south. The tension the armed presence can create, however, is already visible.

During a terse exchange on Sunday with Iraqi police, gunmen on a convoy from the Shi&#39;ite holy city of Kerbala jumped off their vehicles at a checkpoint south of Mosul carrying assault rifles, some with fingers on triggers. A policeman mounted the gun turret of an armoured car in case the argument escalated.

&quot;No problem, insha&#39;allah (God willing),&quot; said one of the convoy organisers, who gave his name only as Ali.

The vehicles were eventually waved through into Mosul, flying the banner of a Kerbala-based Shi&#39;ite militia.

A local tribal leader and former councilman for Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, said this kind of action laid bare Shi&#39;ite attempts to expand influence in mainly Sunni northwestern Iraq.

&quot;Shi&#39;ite brothers have exploited the war conditions to pave the way for their project, it&#39;s a gradual infiltration,&quot; Sheikh Ali, told Reuters by phone. He asked not to be identified by his last name for fear of reprisals. &quot;It&#39;s &#39;Shi&#39;isation&#39;&nbsp;of Mosul city - an attempt at hegemony.&quot;

Abdul Rahman al-Wagga, a current council member, said with Islamic State ousted there was concern over encroachment by political factions with armed branches that have not previously had a strong presence in the area.

&quot;This aid...is being brought in by factions or parties which have armed wings. &quot;When a political side comes to a city or region, and has an armed wing, the fear is that this armed wing will be used for political interests,&quot; he said.

Senior PMF figure Kareem al-Nuri denied there were political goals behind the aid. &quot;These fears have no place,&quot; he said. &quot;Humanitarian work...does not mean demographic change,&quot; he added, saying the convoys were the &quot;duty&quot; of the PMF, and were to show solidarity and build trust.

&nbsp;

&#39;SECTARIANISM DOESN&#39;T DISAPPEAR&#39;

Reaction from locals, who have lived under the brutality of Islamic State, has been mixed. In western Mosul, the convoy that had driven through the checkpoint distributed blankets, water and food. &quot;They&#39;re giving good amounts of aid, and it includes fresh food and meat - better than we would get from other organisations,&quot; Omar Ibrahim, a 39-year-old carpenter and former soldier, said. &quot;Sectarianism died with Daesh (Islamic State).&quot;

But another resident suspected ulterior motives.

&quot;We&#39;re not against the aid, but against people imposing their views,&quot; Mahmoud, 39, said quietly as Shi&#39;ite gunmen and federal police controlled the crowd. &quot;The way they&#39;re doing this - flying flags and coming in with guns, tells you there&#39;s something else behind it. It&#39;s a friendly face, but the aim behind it is domination,&quot; he said. He did not give his full name for fear of reprisals for speaking out on a sensitive topic.

It was in Mosul that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the Sunni extremists&#39; caliphate spanning areas of Iraq and Syria in 2014. The US-backed Mosul offensive is on track to end the group&#39;s sway over territory in Iraq nearly three years later.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi recognises the need to avoid recreating conditions that allowed IS to take root, including corruption in the security forces and marginalisation of Iraq&#39;s minority Sunni population under predecessor Nuri al-Maliki.

To avoid sectarian tension, Abadi said the army and police would be the only forces to enter Mosul in the battle against IS, not the PMF. PMF involvement in the campaign has however been crucial, helping encircle the jihadists in areas around Mosul. But reliance on the Shi&#39;ite groups will likely increase as the battle strains Iraq&#39;s military, analysts say.

Ramzy Mardini, a fellow at the Atlantic Council, said that behind the aid effort is likely a PMF bid to have a permanent presence either in or around Mosul.

&quot;It&#39;s a war zone and the ultimate aim is to capture enemy territory. In that context, they&#39;re armed participants regardless of whatever role they play in the overall effort,&quot; he said. &quot;The government&#39;s degree of reliance on militia forces, Shi&#39;ite or Sunni, only increases going forward,&quot; he said.

At another aid distribution point, one local said he feared PMF military encroachment into Mosul city. &quot;The reason for what&#39;s happening in Mosul in the first place is sectarianism. That doesn&#39;t just disappear.&quot;

(Reuters)

'When a political side comes to a...region, and has an armed wing, the fear is that this armed wing will be used for political interests'

Aid convoys linked to paramilitary groups have begun making regular deliveries to Mosul districts recaptured from Islamic State (IS), bringing much-needed relief but also fears that their Shi'ite backers are encroaching into the mostly Sunni city. The columns of trucks and cars carrying food, water and blankets from Shi'ite cities in southern Iraq are welcomed by hungry and war-weary residents of Mosul, Islamic State's last major Iraqi stronghold. But their affiliation with the Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) - a state-run umbrella including Shi'ite militias - is clear, as they fly the flags of those groups and are often accompanied by heavily armed men. Local leaders and many among the Mosul population say it could be the first sign of Shi'ite parties trying to extend their influence as the battle against the jihadists winds up. Perversely, they say, the humanitarian help raises the spectre of sectarian strife in a country torn apart by it. The PMF says the convoys are charitable and nothing more, and that the weapons are to protect those bringing supplies on long drives from the south. The tension the armed presence can create, however, is already visible. During a terse exchange on Sunday with Iraqi police, gunmen on a convoy from the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala jumped off their vehicles at a checkpoint south of Mosul carrying assault rifles, some with fingers on triggers. A policeman mounted the gun turret of an armoured car in case the argument escalated. "No problem, insha'allah (God willing)," said one of the convoy organisers, who gave his name only as Ali. The vehicles were eventually waved through into Mosul, flying the banner of a Kerbala-based Shi'ite militia. A local tribal leader and former councilman for Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, said this kind of action laid bare Shi'ite attempts to expand influence in mainly Sunni northwestern Iraq. "Shi'ite brothers have exploited the war conditions to pave the way for their project, it's a gradual infiltration," Sheikh Ali, told Reuters by phone. He asked not to be identified by his last name for fear of reprisals. "It's 'Shi'isation' of Mosul city - an attempt at hegemony." Abdul Rahman al-Wagga, a current council member, said with Islamic State ousted there was concern over encroachment by political factions with armed branches that have not previously had a strong presence in the area. "This aid...is being brought in by factions or parties which have armed wings. "When a political side comes to a city or region, and has an armed wing, the fear is that this armed wing will be used for political interests," he said. Senior PMF figure Kareem al-Nuri denied there were political goals behind the aid. "These fears have no place," he said. "Humanitarian work...does not mean demographic change," he added, saying the convoys were the "duty" of the PMF, and were to show solidarity and build trust. 'SECTARIANISM DOESN'T DISAPPEAR' Reaction from locals, who have lived under the brutality of Islamic State, has been mixed. In western Mosul, the convoy that had driven through the checkpoint distributed blankets, water and food. "They're giving good amounts of aid, and it includes fresh food and meat - better than we would get from other organisations," Omar Ibrahim, a 39-year-old carpenter and former soldier, said. "Sectarianism died with Daesh (Islamic State)." But another resident suspected ulterior motives. "We're not against the aid, but against people imposing their views," Mahmoud, 39, said quietly as Shi'ite gunmen and federal police controlled the crowd. "The way they're doing this - flying flags and coming in with guns, tells you there's something else behind it. It's a friendly face, but the aim behind it is domination," he said. He did not give his full name for fear of reprisals for speaking out on a sensitive topic. It was in Mosul that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the Sunni extremists' caliphate spanning areas of Iraq and Syria in 2014. The US-backed Mosul offensive is on track to end the group's sway over territory in Iraq nearly three years later. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi recognises the need to avoid recreating conditions that allowed IS to take root, including corruption in the security forces and marginalisation of Iraq's minority Sunni population under predecessor Nuri al-Maliki. To avoid sectarian tension, Abadi said the army and police would be the only forces to enter Mosul in the battle against IS, not the PMF. PMF involvement in the campaign has however been crucial, helping encircle the jihadists in areas around Mosul. But reliance on the Shi'ite groups will likely increase as the battle strains Iraq's military, analysts say. Ramzy Mardini, a fellow at the Atlantic Council, said that behind the aid effort is likely a PMF bid to have a permanent presence either in or around Mosul. "It's a war zone and the ultimate aim is to capture enemy territory. In that context, they're armed participants regardless of whatever role they play in the overall effort," he said. "The government's degree of reliance on militia forces, Shi'ite or Sunni, only increases going forward," he said. At another aid distribution point, one local said he feared PMF military encroachment into Mosul city. "The reason for what's happening in Mosul in the first place is sectarianism. That doesn't just disappear." (Reuters)

Shi'ite aid convoys enter Mosul, bringing relief and suspicion

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