Residents of Tob Zawa and other villages taken to a camp in Khazer region for safety as officers undertake cleanup ops in areas seized from militants
An Iraqi refugee who fled Mosul stands between tents at the UN-run Al-Hol refugee camp in Syria’s Hasakeh province. Pic/AFP
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Iraq: Iraqi special forces have moved over 1,000 people from villages near the front lines of the battle to retake the Islamic State-held city of Mosul and surrounding areas, where the UN says militants have committed a number of atrocities in recent days, officials said yesterday.
Special Forces Maj. Gen. Haider Fadhil said residents of Tob Zawa and other villages were taken to a camp in the nearby Khazer region for safety. The International Organisation for Migration says at least 8,940 people have been displaced since the operation to retake Mosul began on October 17.
The special forces were undertaking cleanup operations in areas retaken from the militants to the east of the city, where troops uncovered a vast tunnel network used by the IS to shuttle fighters and supplies by motorcycle, Maj. Salam al-Obeidi said.
Iraqi forces have been pushing toward Mosul from several directions since the launch of the wide-scale offensive, which involves more than 25,000 Iraqi soldiers, Kurdish forces, Sunni tribal fighters and state-sanctioned Shiite militiamen. It is expected to take weeks, if not months, to drive the IS from its last urban bastion in the country.
The militants have had months to prepare for the long-awaited operation and are believed to have developed extensive defences in and around the city. In recent weeks, they are also said to have targeted alleged spies and others they fear may rise up against them.
Spokesman Rupert Colville said in Geneva that the UN rights body also had reports that the militants gunned down 15 villagers south of the city and threw their bodies in a river. In the same village, the IS tied six people to vehicles by their hands and dragged them around because they were related to a tribal leader battling the extremists, he said.
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