Iraqi forces smoke 34 ISIS troops in western Mosul
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Thirty-four Islamic State militants, including a leader, were killed during armed confrontations in western Mosul, Federal Police have declared.
In a statement aired on state TV, Lt.Gen. Shaker Jawdat said, “Federal Police troops have controlled 75 percent of al-Zanjili district and become very close to Bab Sanjar region in the Old City.”
“Operations in Zanjili left 34 militants, including the leader Abi Baraa al-Tounsi, in charge of explosives manufacturing workshops in the Old City, killed and four booby-trapped vehicles, that attempted targeting the passageways of the displaced, destroyed,” he added.
In related news, intelligence sources from Mosul said on Wednesday that the militants looted and burnt houses of the displaced civilians as well as their properties and cars at IS-held regions. Moreover, a source said three Federal Police personnel were shot dead by IS snipers in Zanjili.
Speaking to Shafaq News, the sources added that IS members booby-trapped houses of the civilians who fled toward security troops in al-Shifa district. They stole their properties and cars to block the streets and blow them to hamper advance of the troops.
Meanwhile, observers said the group has realized its losses caused by the war waged against Iraqi troops. Suffering shortage in personnel, the group resorted to hindering the troops through blocking streets with vehicles and denying civilians access to use them as human shields.
On Monday, Federal Police declared troops aimed again at the strategic Old City from the southern entrances, reopening an old front after they have been sweeping through northwestern neighborhoods over the past few weeks in a way to invade the strategic Old City.
ISIS Big turban dies in Mosul
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) A prominent Islamic State leader was killed in western Mosul, Kurdistan Region Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Directorate announced on Wednesday.
In a statement, the directorate said, “according to information received, a terrorist called Ahmed Hashim Hamid, known as Abu Hammam, was killed over the past few days in western Mosul.”
The militant, according to the statement, “is the second man in the IS’s so-called ‘Sharia Diwan’.”
The directorate did not refer to whom killed the militant.
Earlier on the day, Federal Police said 34 IS militants, including a leader called abu Baraa al-Tounsi, in charge of explosives manufacturing workshops in the Old City, were killed during armed confrontations on al-Zanjili district in western Mosul.
5 ISIS troops die in shooting in western Mosul
Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) Unknown gunmen killed five Islamic State militants at an enclave which is still under the group’s control west of Mosul, according to a security source.
The source said in a press statement, reported by Waradana news website, saying that the gunmen were boarding three pickup trucks attacked an IS checkpoint in central Tal Afar.
The attack threw the militants into confusion, but they did not take any action attackers since many of their superior leaders had already fled the town, according to the source.
Occasional reports have been made about anonymous attacks targeting IS members inside and outside Mosul since the launch of the offensive, especially at Tal Afar, where the group has reportedly been struck with divisions and infighting over leadership and field defeats.
IS has been holding Tal Afar since 2014, and paramilitary troops, Popular Mobilization, have cleared most of areas around the enclave near the Syrian borders, and occasionally announce they await government orders to invade it.
11 Iraqi soldiers die in mined residence in western Mosul
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Eleven Iraqi soldiers were killed, while seven others were wounded due to an explosion of a booby-trapped house in western Mosul district.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Cap. Sabhan Wali, of Rapid Response forces, said, “eleven personnel of the Interior Ministry’s Federal police and Rapid Response troops were killed earlier on Wednesday in a blast of a booby-trapped house in al-Zanjili district, in western Mosul.”
Explosive experts, according to Wali, were accompanying the personnel who invaded Zanjili to comb areas that were liberated, when the house was blown up.
Earlier on the day, news reports mentioned that IS members booby-trapped houses of the civilians who fled toward security troops. They also stole their properties and cars to block the streets and blow them up to hamper advance of the troops.