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Mosul Clearances Continue: 30 turbans tied up or permanently unwound, ISIS chemicals concern, Saddam Hussein mass grave found
 Christians mass grave found in Mosul not for Islamic State victims: Official Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) An official from Nineveh province has denied news that the Christian victims found in a mass grave, recently found in west of Mosul, were killed by Islamic State members. Speaking to Baghdad Today website, Dureid Hikmat, deputy governor of Nineveh for Christians affairs, said, “the mass grave that was found in Mosul is not for victims killed by Islamic State, but for people who were killed more than 30 years ago.” Hikmat added that the buried people were Christians. On Thursday, news reports said Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) along with security troops in Halila region, near Badush in west of Mosul, ran into a mass grave of Christians who were kidnapped from the region. 25 Islamic State members killed, arrested in wake of attack, west of Mosul Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi troops, along with fighter jets, have killed and arrested more than twenty Islamic State members and leaders in west of Mosul, a security source was quoted saying on Friday. “Security troops arrested, today, 17 IS members in al-Rayhaniya village and seize the weapons in their possession in Badush, west of Mosul,” the source told Baghdad Today website. Moreover, the source added that “eight members including three leaders were killed in an airstrike against al-Atshana mountain, in the wake of their attack against a checkpoint in Badush and fleeing to mountainous areas.” Five Iraqi soldiers killed, injured in Islamic State attack, west of Mosul Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Five Iraqi soldiers were killed and injured in an attack launched by the Islamic State in west of Mosul, Nineveh province, a security source was quoted saying on Thursday. Speaking to Baghdad Today website, the source said, “gunmen, who are believed to belong to Islamic State, attacked a checkpoint for security troops in Badush, west of Mosul.” The attack, according to the source, “left two soldiers killed and three others wounded.” Mosul people fearful of Islamic State’s chemical reserve left behind Mosul (IraqiNews.com) People in the Iraqi city of Mosul are still filled with apprehension from chemicals left over from Islamic State militants’ bygone presence in the country’s second largest city, a news agency reports, saying that security forces do little to work out a solution. Though Iraqi forces recaptured Mosul, Islamic State’s birthplace in Iraq, in July, the extremist group’s reserve of chemical weapons stocked inside civilian property remains a source of concern for civilians, according to Anadolu Agency. The agency quoted locals saying that Iraqi security forces would only mark contaminated houses with red tapes and writing warning phrases. People quoted by the agency say Iraqi teams handling the issue seem to be not properly prepared for the challenge. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Lit. Yaareb al-Mosawi, a member of the Iraqi army’s engineering division working on war waste removal, confirmed the chemical danger and the forces’ unpreparedness. He said the forces lack the instrument needed for the removal of such materials, as well as the personnel trained for that purpose. He revealed that teams content with the removal of unexploded IEDs and rockets. According to the officer, there are 130 locations with dangerous chemical materials only in the Old City, the medieval district from where IS declared the establishment of its self-styled “caliphate” in 2014. Iraqi and coalition forces had occasionally reported the use of chemical weapons by IS militants during the three-year war. Destruction, explosive waste and chemical leftovers have made thousands of displaced civilians reluctant to return to the city. United Nations experts said last month it would take a decade to remove millions of explosive ordnance from areas recaptured from IS. Posted by: trailing wife 2018-03-03 |
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