Car bombs target Iraqi forces as they push into eastern Mosul

Record ID: 164406

  • Title: Car bombs target Iraqi forces as they push into eastern Mosul
  • Date: 16th January 2017
  • Summary: SHURTA DISTRICT, EASTERN MOSUL, IRAQ (JANUARY 16, 2017) (REUTERS) CAR ON FIRE, SMOKE RISING IN IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH OF CAR BOMB TARGETED AT IRAQI FORCES BLACK SMOKE RISING COUNTER TERRORISM SERVICE (CTS) SOLDIERS CARRYING WEAPONS AND RPG MISSILES WALKING ON STREET CTS SOLDIERS AND ARMOURED VEHICLES ON STREET / AUDIO OF AIR STRIKE BY COALITION FORCES WHITE SMOKE RISING SOLDIERS ON STREET BODIES OF ISLAMIC STATE MILITANTS ON A SIDEWALK / SOLDIERS NEARBY SOLDIERS STANDING ON STREET / ISLAMIC STATE CAR BOMB EXPLODING VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS RUNNING TOWARDS THE SITE OF THE CAR BOMB / ARMOURED CARS NEARBY CAR BURNING MAN WALKING DOWN A STREET, HOLDING HIS SHIRT UP TO SHOW HE IS NOT WEARING SUICIDE VEST ANDALUS DISTRICT, EASTERN MOSUL, IRAQ (JANUARY 16, 2017) (REUTERS) WIDE STREET WITH COUNTER TERRORISM SERVICE (CTS) VEHICLES AND SOLDIERS / SOUND OF GUNFIRE ROAD SIGNS SHOWING DIRECTIONS LINE OF CTS VEHICLES ON STREET VARIOUS OF CTS SOLDIERS IN HUMVEES FIRING HEAVY MACHINE GUNS AT ISLAMIC STATE MILITANTS VARIOUS OF CTS SOLDIERS FIRING ASSAULT RIFLE CTS VEHICLES / MORE OF GUNFIRE EXCHANGE PEOPLE WALKING DOWN A STREET MEN STANDING NEAR THE ENTRANCE OF THEIR HOME (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RESIDENT OF THE ANDALUS DISTRICT, ABU HAMZAH, SAYING: "It has been three days since the counter-terrorism service began encircling (this district) and thank God, today they were able to clear the area completely. The situation will become better. Before it was difficult, we were unable leave our homes for ten days. It has been a real struggle." CTS SOLDIERS WALKING DOWN A STREET VARIOUS OF MORTARS LEFT BEHIND BY ISLAMIC STATE MILITANTS EXTERIOR OF HOMES IN THE AREA / SOUND OF WOMEN ULULATING MAN LOOKING OUT OF A BROKEN WINDOW IN HIS HOME / SOUND OF WOMEN ULULATING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RESIDENT OF THE ANDALUS DISTRICT, OMAR, SAYING: "The situation was difficult, there were air strikes, clashes, Daesh (Islamic State militants) were everywhere. We could not walk out the door, there were militants there. Now we are liberated and free from this tyranny, thank God we are all ok. We are now free, we can breathe the air of freedom." YOUNG BOY ON STREET SOLDIERS HOLDING UP ISLAMIC STATE FLAG
  • Embargoed: 30th January 2017 14:44
  • Keywords: Mosul clash car bomb Iraqi forces soldiers Islamic militants dead body
  • Location: SHURTA DISTRICT AND ANDALUS DISTRICT, EASTERN MOSUL, IRAQ
  • City: SHURTA DISTRICT AND ANDALUS DISTRICT, EASTERN MOSUL, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015ZBZIO7
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGE
    Iraqi Special Forces battled Islamic State militants in districts near the Tigris River in Mosul on Monday (January 16) as they sought to bring more of the east of the city back under government control.
    The latest clashes occurred in the neighbouring Shurta and Andalus districts.
    At least three Islamic State suicide car bombs targeted Iraqi forces in these areas.
    There was no immediate word on any casualties.
    In an online post, Islamic State said it had carried out a "martyrdom operation" in the area.
    Iraq's elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) said the militants, who seized Mosul in 2014 as they swept across much of northern Iraq, only to since lose much of that terrain to government counter-offensives, were fighting back hard.
    Jubilant residents welcomed Iraqi soldiers who have recaptured the Andalus district.
    "It has been three days since the counter-terrorism service began encircling (this district) and thanks God, today they were able to clear the area completely. The situation will become better. Before it was difficult, we were unable leave our homes for ten days. It has been a real struggle," residents Abu Hamzah said.
    "Now we are liberated and free from this tyranny, thanks God we are all ok. We are now free, we can breathe the air of freedom," Omar said.
    Shurta and Andalus are situated close to the eastern bank of the Tigris, separated only by some woodland, and within sight of the city's northernmost bridge across the river.
    Iraqi forces, which have reached three of the five bridges, say they will soon fully control the eastern bank. They have already taken areas of the river bank further south.
    Once the east bank is recaptured, they can begin attacks on western Mosul, which the Sunni Muslim extremist insurgents still hold.
    Iraqi forces have seized most of the east in a 3-month-old U.S.-backed campaign to oust the militants from Iraq's second largest city, Islamic State's last major Iraqi stronghold. The Tigris bisects Mosul from north to south.
    Fighting has intensified since the turn of the year as Iraqi forces have renewed an offensive against the ultra-hardline militants. Troops had got bogged down in late November and December after entering Mosul as IS fighters fought back with car bombs and snipers, and concealed themselves among a civilian population of up to 1.5 million.
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