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| Iraq |
| Destroyed Mosul bridge won't stop Iraqis from crossing over |
| 2017-01-15 |
| Those escaping east to Zuhur district drag suitcases along with strollers and wheelchairs. The rubble of a bridge blown up by Daesh in Mosul to block advancing Iraqi forces has become a lifeline for civilians as more and more of the northern city breaks loose from the grip of the ultra-hardline militants. Men and women, children and the elderly scramble down the banks of the Khosr River, a tributary of the Tigris some 30 metres wide and a metre deep which counter-terrorism forces crossed last week in a nighttime raid. Lumbering over ladders and pipes, civilians crawl onto the span of the bridge, which has collapsed into the murky water, and shimmy up the opposite bank along a dirt path. Those escaping east to Zuhur district drag suitcases along with strollers and wheelchairs. Those returning west to Muthanna carry sacks of rice, potatoes and onions, cartons of eggs and packs of baby diapers. The journey in either direction is usually several kilometres. "Now there are people entering and people leaving," Major General Sami Al Aridi told Reuters this week after touring both sides of the river on foot. "The ones who left are returning, and those who are leaving now are coming from neighbourhoods where there are currently clashes." He said he expected the latest evacuees to return in a day or two as Iraqi forces pushed further west. The UN had warned that the US backed campaign to kick Daesh out of Mosul, their largest urban stronghold in Iraq or Syria, could displace up to 1.5 million people. But with much of the eastern half of the city now under government control, most residents have stayed in their homes or moved in temporarily with relatives in other neighbourhoods. That has complicated the task of the military, which must fight among civilians in built-up areas against an enemy that has targeted non-combatants and hidden among them. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 Frank G., have theolite, can travel. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2017-01-15 17:50 |
| #2 There's your next bridge rehab project Commodore Frank! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2017-01-15 12:40 |
| #1 a METER DEEP! Oh my! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2017-01-15 09:29 |