Another ISIS prison found in Mosul
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraq’s Ministry of Defense said Sunday that army forces had run into a prison in Mosul where Islamic State militants had used lock up women from the Yazidi religious minority.
The prison was found at the 17 Tamuz (July 17th) district in western Mosul, one of the districts which Iraqi forces have recaptured from the militants since it launched an offensive in February to retake the western side of the city.
Iraqi forces are currently besieging IS members in western Mosul’s Old City, the place from where the group first declared the establishment of an Islamist “caliphate” in 2014. Troops have discovered several mass graves of Iraqi citizens and security members, as well as prison facilities where IS has tortured on locked up Iraqis from all ethnicities and religious identities.
Many Yazidis, whose beliefs combine elements of several Middle Eastern religions, were persecuted and held in Mosul by Islamic State, which considered them devil-worshippers.
At least 9,900 of Iraq’s Yazidis were killed or kidnapped in just days in an Islamic State attack in 2014, according to a rare study that documented the number of Yazidis affected.
About 3,100 Yazidis were killed – with more than half shot, beheaded or burned alive – and about 6,800 kidnapped to become sex slaves or fighters, according to the report published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine.
Popular Mobilization Units, the paramilitary force fighting IS alongside the government, said a few weeks ago they had liberated Yazidi habitats west of Mosul.
ISIS kidnaps 60 Mosul families
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State militants kidnapped 60 families from western Mosul district, a source from Federal Police said on Sunday.
“As the group retreated in al-Shifa district, the militants kidnapped 60 families from the district while the security troops were advancing,” Col. Khodeir Saleh told BasNews.
“The abducted families were taken to the Old City and prevented from fleeing toward the troops,” he added.
Federal Police forces, according to Saleh, “besiege the region from all sides. 27 militants were killed in al-Shifa district during the confrontations.”
Earlier on Saturday, the Iraqi government forces recaptured Zanjili district in western Mosul, leaving only one district of al-Shifa in Islamic State’ grip before reaching its strategic stronghold in the Old City neighborhood.
News reports mentioned that dozens of civilians were killed either during the battles or while fleeing over the past few days. Number of the victims has not been identified yet.
IS fighters have both shot at and executed civilians attempting to flee areas under their control, according to aid groups and security officials who also said that civilians are being used as human shields.
The eastern side of Mosul city was liberated in January after three months of battles. Another offensive was launched in February to liberate the western flank of the city.