- Title: Iraqi forces say 1,000 Islamic State fighters killed in Mosul
- Date: 28th November 2016
- Summary: BARTELLA, EAST OF MOSUL, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 27, 2016) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** MAJOR GENERAL ABDUL GHANI AL-ASADI, ONE OF IRAQI SPECIAL FORCES COMMANDERS GIVING INTERVIEW TO REUTERS OFFICER STANDING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAJOR GENERAL ABDUL GHANI AL-ASADI, ONE OF IRAQI SPECIAL FORCES COMMANDERS, SAYING: "The presence of the civilians has further complicated the progress of the fight against Daesh (Islamic State). Progress was faster at the start. The reason is, before we were operating in areas without residents." HANDS OF AL-ASADI (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAJOR GENERAL ABDUL GHANI AL-ASADI, ONE OF IRAQI SPECIAL FORCES COMMANDERS, SAYING: "Now, we are fighting in a city with a population of more than 1.8 million people and this statistics are made by the local government and by the order of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces that civilians have to stay in their homes without jeopardising their lives." REUTERS REPORTERS INTERVIEWING AL-ASADI (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAJOR GENERAL ABDUL GHANI AL-ASADI, ONE OF IRAQI SPECIAL FORCES COMMANDERS, SAYING: "We have limited the kinds of the weapons we used. Tanks don't work here, artillery is not effective and other medium range weapons. Planes from the coalition force, the air force and army aviation are restricted because of the civilians." HAND AND NOTEBOOK OF REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAJOR GENERAL ABDUL GHANI AL-ASADI, ONE OF IRAQI SPECIAL FORCES COMMANDERS, SAYING: "Sometimes, we have blocked district by district and then ringed it. We isolated a neighbourhood from the others and then we started to clear it. When we did that, Daesh (Islamic State) started to retreat immediately from the area and in this way we protect the lives of the civilians" MORE OF REUTERS CORRESPONDENTS INTERVIEWING AL-ASADI (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAJOR GENERAL ABDUL GHANI AL-ASADI, ONE OF IRAQI SPECIAL FORCES COMMANDERS, SAYING: "Deash (Islamic State militants) spirit is broken and according to information we have the force left in front of us is small, unable to stop our advance. We are continuing to go forward and every passing day we capture a new area." CTS (Counter Terrorism Service) MEMBER (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAJOR GENERAL ABDUL GHANI AL-ASADI, ONE OF IRAQI SPECIAL FORCES COMMANDERS, SAYING: "We have killed more than 992 fighters on our front plus more wounded ... Their supplies and communications to the outside world are cut. They stage fewer suicide bombings." HANDS OF AL-ASADI (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAJOR GENERAL ABDUL GHANI AL-ASADI, ONE OF IRAQI SPECIAL FORCES COMMANDERS, SAYING: "The number of the car bombs went down because they have used more than 200 car bombs. The destruction of bridges has also affected the arrival of supplies from right side to the left side. The arrival of the forces from the west to the main road has also helped cut off supply routes of Daesh across the border" MILITARY RANK OF AL-ASADI MORE OF REUTERS INTERVIEWING AL-ASADI
- Embargoed: 13th December 2016 12:21
- Keywords: Iraq Mosul offensive special forces CTS
- Location: BARTELLA, EAST OF MOSUL , IRAQ
- City: BARTELLA, EAST OF MOSUL , IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA0015ACZC5J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Number of IS militants killed by U.S.-trained Iraqi special forces in eastern Mosul reached nearly 1,000 on Monday (November 28) but fighting has slowed as the troops face a mobile enemy hidden among thousands of civilians in the city.
Major General Abdul Ghani Al-Asadi, one of the commanders of the special forces, said troops had adapted tactics, surrounding one district at a time to cut off militant supplies and forcing them to pull back and to protect civilians.
"Progress was faster at the start. The reason is, before, we were operating in areas without residents," Asadi told Reuters in Bartella, on Mosul's outskirts.
The U.S.-trained Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) unit breached Islamic State's defences at the end of October, but have been slowed by militants mobile tactics and concern over civilian casualties preventing the use of tanks and heavy armor.
"We have limited the kinds of the weapons we used. Tanks don't work here, artillery is not effective. Planes from the coalition force and the air force are restricted because of the civilians," Al-Asadi said.
Dozens of districts remain to take in the east before reaching the Tigris River which splits Mosul into east and west.
To the south, Iraqi army brigades are now advancing slowly on the remaining IS-held villages before reaching the city limits.
To the west, the mostly Iranian-backed Shiite militias known as Popular Mobilisation have cut off the highway to Syria in a remote area, and they are yet to close in on the city.
Elite Iraqi troops, known as the "Golden Division", are the only brigades that have entered into Mosul to the east with Iraqi army while federal police and Kurdish Peshmerga surrounding the city to the north and south.
"Deash (Islamic State militants) spirit is broken ... The force left in front of us is small, unable to stop our advance," Asadi said.
Defeating Islamic State in Mosul, Islamic State's last major city bastion in Iraq, would be a key strike to ending the "caliphate" declared by the group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The Iraqi government has asked civilians in Mosul to stay at home during the offensive, as humanitarian organisations said they would not be able to cope with an influx of hundred of thousands of people displaced from the city.
More than one million people are believed to remain in the city, the largest in northern Iraq.
Six weeks into Iraq's largest offensive since the 2003 invasion ousted Saddam Hussein, Iraqi forces have captured nearly half of eastern Mosul, moving district after district against militant snipers, suicide attackers and car bombs.
Iraqi military initially estimated the number of insurgents in Mosul at 5,000 to 6,000, facing a 100,000-strong coalition of Iraqi government units, Peshmerga fighters and Shi'ite militias. But Asadi said that figure for Islamic State presence may have been too high and that the capacity of militants to stage attacks has been diminished.
"We have killed more than 992 fighters on our front plus more wounded ... Their supplies and communications to the outside world are cut. They stage fewer suicide bombings."
Iraqi authorities have not released estimates of civilian casualties but the United Nations says growing numbers of injured, both civilians and military, are overwhelming aid groups. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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