Al Jazeera News :
More than 140 civilians have been killed in less than a week while trying to flee western Mosul, according to military sources, as the Iraqi army seeks to close in on ISIL fighters in the armed group’s last stronghold in Iraq.
According to the military on Thursday, most of the fatalities were women and children.
More than seven months into a massive US-backed operation to retake Iraq’s second city, security forces have recaptured all but a handful of areas of Mosul from ISIL.
Yet, hundreds of thousands of civilians may be trapped in those still held by the group, which seized Mosul in the summer of 2014.
Six days into a new assault on ISIL’s remaining pockets of territory, the Iraqi army and their allies have progressed slower than what they expected, Al Jazeera’s Osama bin Javaid, reporting from Erbil in northern Iraq, said.
“They are facing fierce resistance from ISIL fighters,” he said, adding that the civilian death toll had risen to 140 as of 1300 GMT on Thursday, amid the heavy clashes.
“It has just become more gruesome,” he said. “It’s becoming a tough fight. Iraqi forces are trying to hit ISIL targets shielding behind civilian homes, among densely populated areas.”
“Seventy civilians were reported to have died due to an air strike on Tuesday. It was not clear if it was Iraqi army or coalition forces who conducted the air strike.”
Our correspondent also reported that ISIL fighters are using mobile mortar squad backed by snipers and suicide car bombs.
“It is a complicated battlefield that Iraqi forces are trying to navigate, and the highest price being
More than 140 civilians have been killed in less than a week while trying to flee western Mosul, according to military sources, as the Iraqi army seeks to close in on ISIL fighters in the armed group’s last stronghold in Iraq.
According to the military on Thursday, most of the fatalities were women and children.
More than seven months into a massive US-backed operation to retake Iraq’s second city, security forces have recaptured all but a handful of areas of Mosul from ISIL.
Yet, hundreds of thousands of civilians may be trapped in those still held by the group, which seized Mosul in the summer of 2014.
Six days into a new assault on ISIL’s remaining pockets of territory, the Iraqi army and their allies have progressed slower than what they expected, Al Jazeera’s Osama bin Javaid, reporting from Erbil in northern Iraq, said.
“They are facing fierce resistance from ISIL fighters,” he said, adding that the civilian death toll had risen to 140 as of 1300 GMT on Thursday, amid the heavy clashes.
“It has just become more gruesome,” he said. “It’s becoming a tough fight. Iraqi forces are trying to hit ISIL targets shielding behind civilian homes, among densely populated areas.”
“Seventy civilians were reported to have died due to an air strike on Tuesday. It was not clear if it was Iraqi army or coalition forces who conducted the air strike.”
Our correspondent also reported that ISIL fighters are using mobile mortar squad backed by snipers and suicide car bombs.
“It is a complicated battlefield that Iraqi forces are trying to navigate, and the highest price being
