At least two people were killed and 11 wounded on Tuesday by a car bomb in the northern <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/turkey-will-keep-attacking-pkk-in-iraq-foreign-ministry-184255">Iraqi city</a> of Tal Afar, a former Islamic State stronghold, the military said.

Tal Afar, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Mosul, experienced cycles of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi'ites after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and produced some of Islamic State's most senior commanders.

The city, which had about 200,000 residents, came under the militants' control when Islamic State overran swathes of Iraq's north in 2014.

It fell to Iraqi Security Forces, backed by the US-led coalition, in August 2017, the last area to be retaken in the north before fighting moved to the Syrian border. A heavy security presence has remained since then and the city has been mostly quiet.

At least two people were killed and 11 wounded on Tuesday by a car bomb in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar, a former Islamic State stronghold, the military said.

At least two people were killed and 11 wounded on Tuesday by a car bomb in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar, a former Islamic State stronghold, the military said. Tal Afar, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Mosul, experienced cycles of sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi'ites after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and produced some of Islamic State's most senior commanders. The city, which had about 200,000 residents, came under the militants' control when Islamic State overran swathes of Iraq's north in 2014. It fell to Iraqi Security Forces, backed by the US-led coalition, in August 2017, the last area to be retaken in the north before fighting moved to the Syrian border. A heavy security presence has remained since then and the city has been mostly quiet.

Two dead, 11 injured in car bomb in northern Iraqi city Tal Afar

Iraqi forces, in their final push against Islamic State in the north-western district of Tal Afar, have been locked in an intense fighting in the nearby town of al-Ayadiya.

&ldquo;We have to finish the battle before Eid, whatever it takes,&rdquo; said Army Lieutenant Colonel Adnan al-Saidi.

Additional troops have been sent to the area to flush out the remaining Islamic State terrorists.

As the Iraqi troops recaptured most of Tal Afar, the Islamic State terrorists fled to the nearby town of al-Ayadiya.

Some of the Iraqi forces personnel admitted that the fighting in al-Ayadiya was more intense than the battle for Mosul.

Mosul, which was the de facto capital of ISIS in Iraq, was retaken in July after months of fighting.

(With inputs from Reuters)

The battle is being described as one of the fiercest so far

Iraqi forces, in their final push against Islamic State in the north-western district of Tal Afar, have been locked in an intense fighting in the nearby town of al-Ayadiya. “We have to finish the battle before Eid, whatever it takes,” said Army Lieutenant Colonel Adnan al-Saidi. Additional troops have been sent to the area to flush out the remaining Islamic State terrorists. As the Iraqi troops recaptured most of Tal Afar, the Islamic State terrorists fled to the nearby town of al-Ayadiya. Some of the Iraqi forces personnel admitted that the fighting in al-Ayadiya was more intense than the battle for Mosul. Mosul, which was the de facto capital of ISIS in Iraq, was retaken in July after months of fighting. (With inputs from Reuters)

Iraqi forces locked in intense fighting with Islamic State terrorists in al-Ayadiya

&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

Samira Mouaki was covering the Iraqi frontline. Daniele Pagani wishes he was writing about her in any other circumstance but this one

Algerian war reporter Samira Mouaki was grievously hurt while covering the fight against the Islamic State in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul. An Islamic State (IS) sniper shot her in the head. Samira was shot in the head by an Islamic State sniper. She was rushed to hospital in Baghdad. The doctors there say she is stable but it is still not certain how much of a recovery she will make × Samira was rushed to a hospital in Baghdad, from where the latest reports say she is out of danger but that it is still not certain how much of a recovery she will make. Tal Afar is en route to Syria and the Shiite paramilitary umbrella organisation the Al-Hashd Al-Shabi is fighting the IS there. Taking back the city from the IS means cutting off the last chance they have to flee Mosul. I had met Samira, on a sunny but chilly November dawn, while I was in Iraq. I was with two colleagues outside the Iraqi Army's 9th armoured division base, not far from Mosul. We were waiting for somebody to wake up and give us permission to visit the recently liberated ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, a major archaeological site that the IS had laid waste to a few months earlier. We were looking at this funny-looking digging machine that the IS had used to dig underground tunnels in Nimrud, when suddenly Samira popped up and greeted us. I did not immediately realise that this small, energetic Algerian woman, wearing an olive green hijab and a Go-Pro camera holder on her jacket, was a journalist. We got chatting. I saw no civilian car and so asked her how she had got there. She told us she had been sleeping on the base for a few days, to be able to follow operations more closely. I have to say I was surprised. Probably because of my "western biases" -- which I always think I have erased but which seem ready to bounce back into action whenever I am not paying attention -- meeting an Algerian woman, alone, on a military base, covering the most advanced frontline in Iraq, had an effect on me. I remember thinking: "How the hell does a woman manage to sleep alone on a base full of Iraqi soldiers, all of them men?" Well, she did and I immediately regretted my thought. If I was able to roam around Iraq alone, how on earth did I dare think a woman, just because she is a woman, could not do it? When they say destroying gender biases is a process which starts primarily with ourselves, they are absolutely correct. When they further say that the major problem lies on the men's side, they are again correct. I looked at Samira and immediately felt an enormous respect for her courage. She was on the field, no SUV, no expensive camera. She was just there, doing her job without making a fuss. I remember we spoke about her interest in Al-Hashd Al-Shabi and how, according to her, presenting the conflict through a sectarian lens was counterproductive and wrong. I did not entirely agree with her and we debated the point or at least tried to, in broken French from our side while she of course spoke the language perfectly. After some ten minutes, an Iraqi officer came, his fatigues a little messy because of his sudden and early awakening. He lit a cigarette and invited us to have tea and dates while waiting for the formalities. We said goodbye to Samira and followed the officer. Samira's condition reminds us once again how dangerous it is to be a war reporter, and that safety must always come first. Journalists who report on conflicts are highly exposed to risk. Covering the Mosul offensive is especially dangerous because it is made up mostly of unconventional guerrilla warfare fought inside cities, with the enemy using ambushes and suicide attacks. Samira obviously does know what transpired in my mind after I met her, nor perhaps does she imagine how many times I have spoken about her with many colleagues and friends. I had often thought of getting in touch with her again, maybe even writing something about her experience, something which could have helped dismantle the damaging, superficial and unfortunately common cliché of the Arab woman. Too many people too many times consider Arab women a single category of oppressed individuals subjected alternatively to men and religion whereas, exactly as it is for men, theirs is a composite and diverse universe with countless experiences of freedom and suffering, satisfaction and frustration. I wish I was writing about her under any other circumstance but this one. I hope she gets well soon.

That Algerian woman war reporter in Iraq

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Two dead, 11 injured in car bomb in northern Iraqi city Tal Afar

Iraqi forces locked in intense fighting with Islamic State terrorists in al-Ayadiya

Iraq launches offensive to take back Tal Afar from Islamic State

That Algerian woman war reporter in Iraq