ISIS executioner kidnapped in Kirkuk
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Unknown gunmen kidnapped on Saturday a leading member of the Islamic State at the center of the town of Hawija, one of the remaining IS pockets in the province.
News reports quoted the sources as saying that the armed group, boarding a civilian vehicle, kidnapped the militant, nicknamed Abu Tayba al-Anbari, who oversaw a series of executions of prisoners held by the group on Friday in Hawija.
Several instances of Islamic State members assassinations have been reported in some group strongholds in Iraq over the past few weeks.
The group took over several Iraqi cities in 2014 to proclaim a self-styled “Islamic Caliphate”, but a major campaign since October, carried out by Iraqi security forces and popular militias, and backed by US-led advisers and troops, has forced the group to cede much territory, most notably the city of Mosul, its last urban stronghold in Iraq and its previously-proclaimed capital. Nearly 3300 group members were killed since operations launched, according to Iraqi army commanders.
The group has tried to make up for losses and to distract security forces with attacks on civilians and troops at other provinces, especially in Baghdad, Anbar and Salahuddin.
ISIS using murals to stoke sectarian tensions in Mosul
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State militants have begun attempts to stoke sectarian tensions in western Mosul with abusive wall paintings, a local source in Nineveh has said.
The group is trying to induce a state of chaos in the city of Tal Afar before Iraqi government forces begin operations to recapture the group’s stronghold in Mosul’s west, the source told Alsumaria News. Some of the walls in Tal Afar are bearing sectarian phrases, the source added.
“Daesh (Islamic State) have accused whom they called security collaborators of being behind those sectarian murals in an obvious attempt to deceive the public,” said the source. He stressed that citizens had not been taken in by the attempt, especially as some had seen IS members painting them overnight.
On Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the basic military plan for Mosul’s liberation had been completed “in most combat axes” with the recapture of central Mosul, adding that operations continue to liberate “a few other regions” in the north of the city.
Iraqi army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Forces hav said they had retaken all districts assigned to them in eastern Mosul, killing 3300 militants since operations launched in October 2016.
After getting finished with eastern Mosul, Iraqi generals plan to advance to the western region of the city beyond the Tigris River, where Islamic State still predominates a majority of territory.
The campaign to retake Mosul has entered its third month, with Iraqi government forces backed by U.S.-led international coalition fighter jets as well as popular militias.
ISIS destroys Mosul hotel, killing 12
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State members on Saturday blew up Mosul’s second biggest hotel in the city’s western section, while 12 militants were killed in security offensives in the northeast.
A security source was quoted by Mawazin News Agency as saying that the city’s second biggest, 236-room Mosul Hotel was blown up by militants, but did not explain the extent of the damage from the explosion. He said IS members filled the building with TNT barrels.
The city’s biggest hotel, Nineveh Oberoi, a 262-room facility, was blown up by the group in October, but was recaptured last week by security forces.
In the eastern section, where government joint forces are a few districts away from announcing a total recapture of that region, Walid Khalifa Majid, a Brigadier-General at the army’s 9th division, said troops killed 12 IS members in Alam Louk village. He said troops proceeded towards al-Qawsiyat area in the north, one of the last few remaining regions held by the extremist group in eastern Mosul.
On Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the basic military plan for Mosul’s liberation had been completed “in most combat axes” with the recapture of central Mosul, adding that operations continue to liberate “a few other regions” in the north of the city.
Commanders from the Iraqi army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Forces said in a press conference on the same day they had retaken all districts assigned to them in eastern Mosul, killing 3300 militants since operations launched in October 2016.
After getting finished with eastern Mosul, Iraqi generals plan to advance to the western region of the city beyond the Tigris River, where Islamic State still predominates a majority of territory.
The campaign to retake Mosul has entered its third month, with Iraqi government forces backed by U.S.-led international coalition fighter jets as well as popular militias.
Iraqi forces find mass grave in Salahuddin
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi authorities announced on Saturday discovering a mass grave containing bodies of 89 victims of Camp Speicher massacre that were executed by the Islamic State, after capturing the city of Tikrit in June 2014.
A source in Salahuddin Police Command told the Chinese Agency ‘Xinhua’ that security forces received information, obtained from the detained members of the Islamic State, indicating to the presence of a mass grave in the presidential palaces area in central Tikrit, containing remains of Camp Speicher’s victims.
“A specialized committee of the Ministry of Health and Human Rights Watch examined the grave, and exhumed 89 bodies of Camp Speicher’s victims,” the source added.
The source also revealed that the bodies will be sent to the forensic medicine department, in order to identify the identities of bodies.
After capturing the city of Tikrit in June 2014, Islamic State group executed more than 1700 Iraqi soldiers in Camp Speicher base, northwest of Tikrit, then threw dozens of the bodies in the Tigris River and buried hundreds in mass graves.
ISIS executioner dies in Mosul
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) A senior leader of Islamic State was gunned down by unknown attackers in western Mosul on Saturday, according to a a security source.
The militant, nicknamed “Abu Abdulrahman”, a Saudi national, was shot at by unknown gunmen in al-Askari district, the source said in a press statement.
He was responsible for executions of females in that region, according to the source.
Islamic State militants still control most of the western section of Mosul, and are almost driven out from the east as Iraqi government forces have become a few districts away from declaring eastern Mosul IS-free.
Iraqi forces, backed by popular militias and US-led international advisers and troops, have entered a third month of operations to retake Mosul, the last outstanding IS stronghold in Iraq which fell to the group in 2014.
On Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the basic military plan for Mosul’s liberation had been completed “in most combat axes” with the recapture of central Mosul, adding that operations continue to liberate “a few other regions” in the north of the city.
Commanders from the Iraqi army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Forces said in a press conference on the same day they had retaken all districts assigned to them in eastern Mosul, killing 3300 militants since operations launched.
After getting finished with eastern Mosul, Iraqi generals plan to advance to the western region of the city beyond the Tigris River, where Islamic State still predominates a majority of territory.