[ALMASDARNEWS] Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) continue to find all sorts of hidden surprises as they scout out and secure every corner of post-ISIS djinn-infested Mosul... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
. Today, ISF troops found a massive ISIS base for the production of vehicle-borne improvised bombs (VBIED). Most alarmingly, Iraqi troops discovered literally dozens of ready-made armored VBIEDs which, had the battle for Mosul city lingered on any longer, would have undoubtedly have been used against them.
Despite the fact that the VBIEDs were found neatly lined up in an almost production line-like fashion, one crucial element was ‐ to the fortune of ISF ordinance disposal teams ‐ found to be missing from the vehicles: explosives.
The VBIEDs seized by the ISF appear to be of the latest generation design used by ISIS. The boom-mobiles have welded-on armor plating that shields the vehicle ‐ as much as possible ‐ from incoming fire, giving a would-be jihadist suicide driver a better chance of reaching their target.
In most cases, the armored VBIEDs built by ISIS are generally given just enough shielding as to not over-stress the engine of the vehicle used but to still offer decent protection from a range of smalls arms, including heavy machine guns. Often anti-ISIS forces have to employ anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), RPGs, field guns and tank cannons in order to destroy the armored boom-mobile.
Chechen child with burns found under rubble in Mosul’s Old City
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army has found a foreign wounded child under debris of a house in Mosul’s Old City.
A statement by the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell on Saturday said “the army’s 16th division found a Chechen national child while combing al-Shahwaniya region in the Old City.”
The child, who suffered burns, couldn’t speak Arabic well as she was born for Chechen parents. However, she said very few words that indicated her father was killed in an airstrike in the Old City, while the mother blew herself up while the region was combed, the statement added.
The child was taken to hospital for treatment, it added.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul and congratulated Iraqi forces and citizens on the victory over IS militants who had held the second largest Iraqi city since 2014.
The victory in Mosul comes after eight months of fighting by Iraqi government forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, against IS militants.
On Saturday, Iraqi Joint Operations Command’s spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yahia Rasoul, was quoted as saying forces took control over the Old City.