Iraqi forces recapture ‘over a third’ of west Mosul

There is little doubt Iraqi forces will eventually prevail over the militants, who are both outnumbered and overpowered, but even if it loses Mosul, Islamic State is expected to revert to their insurgent tactics of old.

According to HRW, IS gunmen executed up to 600 inmates from Badush prison on June 10, 2014, forcing them to kneel along a nearby ravine and then shooting them with assault rifles.

CTS troops stormed the al-Jadida and al-Aghawat districts on Sunday, Major General Maan al-Saadi told reporters in Mosul, saying the militants were showing signs of weakness despite initial “fierce” resistance.

“The enemy has lost its fighting power and its resolve has weakened”.

“We are waiting for forensic teams and human rights officials to begin unearthing the grave to uncover the whole story of how the ruthless criminal Daesh killed them in cold blood only because they were from a certain sect”, Nouri said.

He has proved to be an elusive target, rarely using communication that can be monitored and moving constantly, often multiple times in one 24-hour cycle, the report said.

The troops expect to encounter far more fleeing civilians once they enter deeper into the more densely populated part of the city.

Baghdadi, who declared IS’s cross-border “caliphate” at a Mosul mosque in 2014, in an audio message in November urged supporters to make a stand in the city rather than “retreating in shame”.

Later on Wednesday, the Iraqi military said the army and Shi’ite paramilitary forces had taken full control of the last major road leading west out of Mosul towards the town of Tal Afar, state TV reported.

A top Islamic State military leader has died in a bombing carried out by Iraqi planes in a region near Mosul, the last big stronghold of the radicals in Iraq, military sources say.

Most of those executed were believed to have been members of Iraq’s Shiite Muslim majority, whom IS considers heretics.

The ongoing operations to free the western side of Mosul from Islamic State (IS) militants have pushed up to 100,000 civilians to flee their homes, the Iraqi government said on Sunday.