ISIS troops ordered to skip prayers before battle
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – Islamic State leaderships and preachers in Mosul are telling militants to skip prayers and reschedule their times to be able to fight the advancing Iraqi joint forces, Alsumaria News reported.
“ISIS fighters are either diminishing or combining prayers due to the war,” a source on Nineveh said Wednesday. “The group is telling men in the city to carry weapons and fight besides its militants in order to be rewarded with paradise,” as the source put it, on condition of anonymity.
ISIS are struggling to defend Mosul, their last bastion in Iraq, as Iraqi government forces, aided by popular militias and US aircrafts, successfully continue advancing to the city as part of an operation launched mid October. ISIS has been dealt serious losses that reportedly prompted its fighters to run their families outside the city.
There are five prayers a day in Islam set at strict timings across the day, but religious rules permit combining some prayers together to gain time space in certain cases.
ISIS operative tantrum ends in family massacre
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – Enraged by his brother’s death in battles with Iraqi security forces, an Islamic State fighter killed a whole family inside its Mosul home, Alsumaria News reported.
A local source said that upon receiving the news of his brother’s death in battles in Aden, west of Mosul, the militant stormed into the family’s house in al-Jazaer neighborhood, also west of Mosul, killing all of the six family members who included a woman and a kid.
ISIS put its fighters in the area on alert fearing a backlash from the residents, said the source.
“ISIS has become more brutal. Massacres are committed in daylight for the most trivial reasons. The group leaves dead bodies for days on the street before they are thrown into mass graves,” the source said, on condition of anonymity.
ISIS is becoming under mounting pressure as Iraqi joint forces, aided by a US air cover, continue to advance to Mosul, the group’s last foothold in Iraq, in a largely successful operation that set on in mid October.
Mysterious masked men spring 3 from ISIS prison in Hawja
(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – Leader at al-Hashd al-Shaabi, Jabbar al-Mamouri declared on Thursday, that masked men stormed into a prison belonging to the Islamic state, and rescued three youths from execution in the district of Hawija, Kirkuk.
Mamouri said in a press statement, “Today, masked men stormed into a prison belonging to the Islamic State in the outskirts of Hawija district, southwest of Kirkuk, and killed two guards and rescued three youths who were sentenced to death by the extremist group for collaborating with security forces and al-Hashd al-Shaabi militia.”
“15 ISIS members and leaders were assassinated in Hawija during the last two months, after the emergence of popular uprising against them in the district,” Mamouri added.