IS launches overnight attack against Iraqi troops in Mosul

Iraq’s parliament speaker said an air strike targeting the ISIL-held town of Qaim near the Syrian border killed and wounded dozens of civilians, and the Iraqi government should be held responsible.

A CTS commander said the army was now occupying a position almost one kilometre (less than a mile) from the hospital, which a 9th Division commander said had been used by IS as a command centre.

Iraqi security forces, aided by the Kurdish Peshmerga, Shiite militias and a USA -led worldwide coalition, began a ground offensive on October 17 to capture Mosul away from the control of the Islamic State, also known as Daesh, ISIS and ISIL.

Defeating the militants in their Iraq stronghold would mark a major step in rolling back the caliphate declared by the extremists in parts of Syria and Iraq when they took over Mosul in mid-2014.

The charge is being led by Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) and Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), which are made up of roughly 40 militias that are mainly made up of Shiite Muslim groups but also include Sunni Muslim, Christian and Yazidi fighters.

According to a statement published by the official Operation Inherent Resolve website, the incident occurred as the ISF tried to capture the Al Salem hospital complex in Mosul’s east.

Iraqi army commanders have repeatedly said that the presence of civilians on the battlefield has complicated and slowed their seven-week-old operation, restricting air strikes and the use of heavy weapons in populated areas. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.

The campaign was beginning to damage the so-called Islamic State, the official said.

Fighting continued on Wednesday in the al-Salam neighbourhood, where the IS militants were said to have been using the five-storey hospital, reported Press TV.

“In my view the best way we can reduce the threat of external attacks on France or the United States or the West is to kick them out of Mosul, and to kick them out of Raqqa and to chase them into the desert”. The IS fighters eventually fought their way inside the al-Salam hospital.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they bore all the hallmarks of the Islamic State group, which has staged dozens of similar attacks in the past.

The military denied striking a market area, as reported on Wednesday, and said a blast there was caused by a vehicle bomb that either went off accidentally, or was detonated by ISIL for propaganda purposes.

Nineteen children and 12 women were among the casualties, a medic said.

Coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian had earlier said that in Mosul, IS was turning to adolescent fighters as its hardcore warriors got wiped out.

“If 1,000 militants escape, and that’s very possible since there are still escape routes open, that will be enough to terrorize not just Iraq, but the whole region”, the counterterrorism official said.