Seven exposed to toxic agents near Mosul

Notably, Iraqi forces have tightened the noose around the group’s last remaining territory in Mosul.

“The civilians were transferred from districts where forces are engaged in fighting against Daesh”, Army Captain Jabbar Hassan told Anadolu Agency on Saturday.

Speaking from Erbil, east of Mosul, he said over 100,000 children are among the 191,000 who have been displaced in total from the city since October.

More than 31,000 civilians have been forced from their homes in western Mosul in the latest phase of the battle that began on February 19, while the total number displaced since the offensive for Mosul started in October exceeds 191,000, according to the United Nations.

An Iraqi special-forces soldier fires as other soldiers runs across a street during a battle in western Mosul.

Footage shared by the Iraqi Federal Police on March 3 showed people leaving the city carrying water, personal belongings and white flags.

Islamic State militants are also suspected of launching chemical attacks on Kurdish forces in northern Iraq.

While eastern Mosul was liberated two months ago, most of the city’s west is still under Islamic State control. Terrorists who play a smaller role for ISIS, staying far enough away from the front lines, are more likely to slip through the cracks, the officer added.

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command announced later in the day that CTS had recaptured Maamun Flats.

The city fell to the Islamic State in 2014. Gen Thamir al-Hussaini, of Iraq’s elite rapid response units, said his troops were advancing along the Tigris River after retaking one of the city’s five damaged bridges.

On Wednesday, a top-ranking U.S. military official said that around 2,000 IS fighters remained positioned in and around west Mosul, defending the last portions of their former Iraqi bastion.

The patients were exposed to the chemical agents in the eastern side of Mosul.

For its part, the United Nations said it is working as fast as possible to help those displaced.

“We’re seeing a lot of serious gunshot wounds from snipers”, Bequary said.