Iraq douses oilfield fires at Qayyara
(Reuters) Five oil wells are still burning out of 25 that Islamic State set on fire in Qayyara, south of Mosul, an oil ministry statement said on Thursday.
State-run North Oil Company crews are working to control the fires torched by the hardline militants to slow down the advance of U.S.-backed Iraqi forces toward Mosul, their last major city stronghold in Iraq.
The oil field was one of the main sources of revenue for the group that declared in 2014 a self-styled ”caliphate” in parts of Syria and Iraq.
Islamic State used to ship at least 50 tanker truckloads a day from Qayyara and nearby Najma oilfields to neighboring Syria. A sign remains on the main road announcing prices of crude in places like the Syrian city of Aleppo, 550 km (340 miles) west of Qayyara.
“The smoke hurts our children, hurts us and, as we get older, it’s only going to cause us more problems,” Reuters quoted Sarhan Misin, 20, who works in a sweet shop just off Qayyara’s main road, as saying in a report about Qayyara in January.
Reuters quoted a doctor at the local hospital, asking not to be named for fear of reprisal by Islamic State, saying he had seen many more patients with respiratory problems in recent months, though was not able to give numbers.
ISIS judge dies in airstrike in Mosul
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Kurdistan Region’s Security Council announced on Thursday, that a Kurdish official of the Islamic State group was killed by an airstrike in al-Zinjili area in the city of Mosul.
The Council said in a press statement, “The international coalition aircraft targeted the Islamic State’s Judicial Official, also known as Waleed Sarhan al-Kurdi (Abu Ali al-Kurdi) in the area of al-Zingili, in western Mosul, killing him, along with four of his bodyguards.”
“Kurdi was the Islamic State’s Judicial Official in the area of Tel Kaif, northeast of the city of Mosul,” the statement further added.
According to informed sources, nearly 500 Kurdish youths joined the Islamic State group between 2013 and 2014, after capturing Mosul.
Iraqi security officials detonate car bomb in al-Intsar neighborhood
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Ministry of Defense’s War Media Cell announced on Thursday detonating a car bomb in the eastern side of the city of Mosul.
The cell said in a press statement, “Detachments of the Military Intelligence Directorate seized a booby-trapped vehicle that was prepared to target civilians, and detonated it in al-Intsar neighborhood in Mosul.”
In January 25th 2017, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced liberating the eastern side of Mosul from the Islamic State completely, while security forces are carrying out an offensive to liberate the western side.