[AnNahar] Iraqi security forces backed by volunteer murderous Moslems on Thursday retook several villages located on the way to the town of Amerli, which jihadists have besieged for months, officers said.Time is running out for Amerli's Shiite Turkmen-majority residents, who face danger both because of their faith, which jihadists consider heresy, and their resistance against the turbans, which has drawn deadly retribution elsewhere.
And the town, besieged since holy warriors led by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group launched a sweeping offensive in June, is without electricity and running dangerously short on both food and water.
Army Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir al-Zaidi told Agence La Belle France Presse that villages north of Al-Adhaim were retaken as part of a major operation aimed at advancing toward Amerli.
Brigadier General Khalaf Jassem confirmed that the villages had been retaken, and like Zaidi put the toll for holy warriors at more than two dozen dead.
Senior Iraqi officials and officers frequently report large turban corpse counts, but they are usually impossible to independently confirm.
In addition to the Iraqi forces advancing toward Amerli from the south, a civilian volunteer commander said that thousands of Shiite murderous Moslems from groups including Asaib Ahl al-Haq and the Badr Organization were gathering in the Tuz Khurmatu area, north of Amerli, in preparation for a battle to break the siege.
But reliance on such groups carries risks, especially after 70 people were bumped off in a Sunni mosque on August 22 by suspected Shiite militiamen.