- Title: Young Iraqi girl killed in Islamic State mortar attack in eastern Mosul
- Date: 16th November 2016
- Summary: AL-ZAHRAA NEIGHBOURHOOD, MOSUL, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 16, 2016) (REUTERS) MEN CARRYING THE BODY OF A GIRL KILLED IN AN ISLAMIC STATE MORTAR ATTACK FAMILY MEMBER CRYING AS THE GROUP CARRIES THE GIRL'S BODY MEN PLACING GIRL'S BODY ON A COUNTER TERRORISM SERVICE HUMVEE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) KILLED GIRL'S UNCLE, MAHMOUD, SAYING: "Mortar shells have been falling over us non-stop. This child (was killed) and there were four others injured, her father, mother and her other brother, and they are in critical condition." MAN CRYING OVER THE BODY OF THE GIRL HUMVEE TAKING THE BODY OF THE GIRL TO BE BURIED ARBAJIA NEIGHBOURHOOD, MOSUL, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 16, 2016) (REUTERS) HUMVEE DRIVING THROUGH THE ARBAJIA NEIGHBOURHOOD OF MOSUL IRAQI COUNTER TERRORISM SERVICE (CTS) SOLDIER LOOKING THROUGH BINOCULARS / HUMVEE FIRING HEAVY ARTILLERY VARIOUS OF THE CTS SOLDIERS LOOKING THROUGH BINOCULARS HUMVEE FIRES HEAVY ARTILLERY CTS HUMVEE DRIVING DOWN A STREET CTS SOLDIERS STANDING IN A STREET RESIDENTS STANDING IN THE STREET / SOLDIER HOLDING A CHILD'S HAND CHILD STANDING NEAR THE CTS SOLDIERS CHILD HOLDING UP THE VICTORY SIGN VARIOUS OF CTS SOLDIERS WALKING THROUGH A STREET / AUDIO OF GUNFIRE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEMBER OF THE COUNTER TERRORISM SERVICE (CTS), MAJOR AHMED, SAYING: "We are now located in Arbajia, and we are spread out towards the Qadisya neighbourhoods. We are now close to the frontline which separates us from Daesh terrorists, who are opposite to the line, in the Muror neighbourhood. We are now in Arbajia, the operations taking place in these areas were very quick. We were able to end the battle and capture the area from Daesh within a few hours." CTS SOLDIERS WALKING THROUGH STREET CTS SOLDIER STANDING NEAR HUMVEE IRAQI FLAG MAJOR AHMED SPEAKING TO RESIDENT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RESIDENT OF ARBAJIA NEIGHBOURHOOD, AHMED, SAYING: "I tried to escape from Mosul, I got to Qayyara, where I was caught (by Daesh). They tortured me and asked me, why do you want to leave the caliphate and go to the land of the infidel?" VARIOUS OF AHMED SHOWING SCARS ON HIS LEG VARIOUS OF CTS SOLDIERS FIRING WEAPONS SOLDIER HOLDING UP A ROCKET SOLDIERS FIRING WEAPONS VARIOUS OF VIEW OF TARGETED LOCATION WHERE ISLAMIC STATE MILITANTS WERE HIDING HUMVEE DRIVING THROUGH STREET
- Embargoed: 1st December 2016 14:08
- Keywords: Mosul Iraq Islamic State army military advance offensive
- Location: AL-ZAHRAA AND ARBAJIA NEIGHBOURHOODS, MOSUL, IRAQ
- City: AL-ZAHRAA AND ARBAJIA NEIGHBOURHOODS, MOSUL, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA00158P2O93
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: One girl was killed and several of her family members were injured when a mortar shell landed on their house on Wednesday (November 16) in Mosul's eastern neighbourhood of al-Zahraa.
The girl's relatives carried her body, which was wrapped in a pink blanket, through the streets of the neighbourhood as they headed to a nearby cemetery.
Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) forces have been fighting in al-Zahraa for a week, sometimes gaining ground only to be pushed back on the defensive. A senior CTS officer said last week that the neighbourhood was fully under control.
The forces had faced fierce resistance from the militants over several days, who launched waves of suicide bombers, sniper attacks and ambushes.
Special forces and a tank division are fighting to expand their foothold in the east of the city for nearly two weeks.
They moved on to the nearby Arbajia neighbourhood, where the clashed with the militants.
"We are now located in Arbajia, and we are spread out towards the Qadisya neighbourhoods. We are now close to the frontline which separates us from Daesh terrorists, who are opposite to the line, in the Muror neighbourhood. We are now in Arbajia, the operations taking place in these areas were very quick. We were able to end the battle and capture the area from Daesh within a few hours," said Major Ahmed of the CTS.
The fierce ebb and flow of battle in Mosul's eastern districts is leaving residents feeling under constant threat, even after army advances in their neighbourhoods, as counter-attacks by Islamic State jihadists often put them straight back in the firing line.
Many decided to flee their homes in search of safer locations.
Ahmed, a resident of the area, said he was caught by Islamic State militants as he tried to escape.
"They tortured me and asked me, why do you want to leave the caliphate and go to the land of the infidel?," he told Reuters.
The CTS special forces spearheading the advance into Mosul are part of a 100,000-strong force of army, security forces, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and mainly Shi'ite "Popular Mobilisation" forces aiming to drive Islamic State from the largest city under their control in Iraq or Syria.
The operation, which entered its fifth week on Monday (November 14), is the most complex in Iraq in over a decade and is complicated by the presence of the more than one million civilians still living under Islamic State control. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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