PMU leader confident IS leader al-Baghdadi trapped in Nineveh
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is still in Nineveh as the extremist group is effectively trapped inside the province, according to a senior leader of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units).
PMUs are running a joint intelligence task force with the Joint Operations Command to track Baghdadi’s movements, Jawad al-Tleibawi was quoted as saying on Saturday. “Initial information with the intelligence bodies tell that ….Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi remains in Nineveh….as security forces impose control over the eastern side of Mosul, while the western side is totally isolated from Syrian territories,” he stated.
Army combs Mosul University after driving out Islamic State
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Forces continued on Sunday to comb Mosul University campus after they had driven Islamic State militants out on Saturday, a senior officer said.
Abdul-Wahab al-Saedi, a top commander of the force, said in statements on Sunday that the forces continue to comb the university’s buildings, and will move afterwards to invade other districts enlisted in the battles plan after finishing.
Mosul University was a major Islamic State stronghold in the eastern section of Mosul. Iraqi generals said, after the university was retaken, that government forces became in control of 90 percent of that area since U.S.-backed operations launched in October to free the city.
Islamic State militants still maintain strongholds in the west of the Tigris River, which halves the city. Iraqi forces managed a few days ago to reach the eastern bank for the first time since October.
IS top vigilante killed in western Mosul, civilians homes burned in east
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) A senior Islamic State vigilante died in the western Mosul town of Tal Afar on Sunday, having succumbed to injuries sustained in an airstrike carried out four days earlier, according to a local source.
“Daesh (Islamic State) lost three of its senior leaders during the current month in Tal Afar due to successful airstrikes,” the source told Alsumaria News, requesting anonymity.
IS has relied on religious vigilantes to observe civilians’ commitment to its extreme religious rules, occasionally imposing harsh punishments, reportedly amounting to death, on violators.
In eastern Mosul, another local source said the extremist group set fire to five houses in the districts of Mohandessin and Andalus after their residents declined to pay donations to the group’s combatants.
Iraqi Forces retake northern, eastern Mosul districts from IS
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi government forces recaptured on Sunday two districts in the north and east of Mosul from Islamic State militants as operations come closer to declaring a total control over the eastern section of the city.
The army’s Counter-Terrorism Forces and the Defense Ministry’s media service, the War Media Cell, said troops recaptured the districts of Kafa’at al-Thaniya and Andalus in the north and the east from Islamic State militants, raising Iraqi flags above buildings at both areas.
Islamic State attacks civilians in Mosul using drones
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) The Islamic State extremist group is using drones to drop bombs and explosives on the residents of the liberated areas in Mosul, the Telegragh reported on Saturday.
The Telegraph report stated that the self-proclaimed Islamic State group previously used drones for surveillance purpose, including local-made large fixed wing craft.
“Until recently though there was little evidence they had developed their use further but a series of recent strikes has now confirmed that they have developed the capability to drop 40 millimeter grenades,” the report explained.
Civilians are an easy target for these attacks, especially in the recently liberated areas in Mosul, where eight persons were wounded due one of these attacks last week.
One of the wounded, Hussein, 14 year-old boy, said, “I was shopping with my family when a small plane belonging to the Islamic State dropped a grenade on us.”
Another wounded man also said that he saw the drone drop explosives, while Iraqi Special Forces medic Colonel Khalil Jawad said that this is the first time he has heard of the Islamic State dropping explosives from a drone.
Security forces thwart Islamic State’s attack on Hadba, Mosul
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Military Intelligence Directorate announced on Sunday foiling an attack launched by the Islamic State group on al-Hadba area using a booby-trapped vehicle.
The directorate said in a press statement, “In coordination with Nineveh Operations, our forces foiled an attack, using a booby-trapped vehicle, launched by the Islamic State on the security troops in al-Hadba area, in Nineveh Province.”
“Security forces managed to kill the suicide bomber, who was driving the booby-trapped vehicle, and confiscated the vehicle,” the statement added.
Counter-Terrorism forces liberate Andalus neighborhood in Mosul
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Commander of We Are Coming, Nineveh Operations, Lieutenant General Abdel Amir Yarallah, announced liberating al-Andalus neighborhood in eastern Mosul, and raising Iraqi flag over its buildings.
Yarallah, in a press statement, said, “Iraqi Counter-Terrorism forces liberated al-Andalus neighborhood and raised Iraqi flag over its buildings.”
Earlier today, We Are Coming, Nineveh Operations Command announced liberating al-Kafa’at al’Thaniyah neighborhood in eastern Mosul.
Iraqi joint security forces, backed by Army Aviation and international coalition forces, continue the battle to liberate Mosul that was launched in October 2016, to retake the city from the Islamic State’s grip.
4000 refugees left Mosul in 24 hours: aid group
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Four-thousand Iraqi refugees have migrated from Mosul as Iraqi groups become close to clearing half of the city from Islamic State militants, an aid group said.
Eyad Rafed, a member of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, said those had fled areas at the northeast and southeast to locations held by Iraqi government forces, and were relocated to refugee camps in the east and south of the city after coordinating with relief teams.
“The humanitarian situation in refugee camps is getting more difficult, especially with increases in refugees coming from areas that are witnessing military operations in the eastern side of Mosul,” he said in press statements.
Abu Bakr Kanaan, who heads a committee handling refugees returning to Mosul, was quoted by Anadolu Agency as saying that more than 20.000 families have so far been returned to liberated areas in Mosul.
In the reconquered part of Mosul, life quickly returning to normal