- Title: Iraqi armed forces make further gains in eastern Mosul
- Date: 16th November 2016
- Summary: AL-ZAHRAA NEIGHBOURHOOD, MOSUL, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 16, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DARK SMOKE CLOUDS RISING ABOVE BUILT UP AREA IN MOSUL (AUDIO: GUNFIRE) LARGE PLUME OF SMOKE RISING AFTER AN EXPLOSION MORE OF SMOKE RISING FROM RESIDENTIAL AREA EXPLOSION AND FIRE FOLLOWED BY LARGE CLOUDS OF DARK SMOKE RISING INTO THE SKY OVER MOSUL (AUDIO: LOUD EXPLOSION AND GUNFIRE)
- Embargoed: 1st December 2016 09:10
- Keywords: Mosul Iraq Islamic State army military advance offensive
- Location: AL-ZAHRAA NEIGHBOURHOOD, MOSUL, IRAQ
- City: AL-ZAHRAA NEIGHBOURHOOD, MOSUL, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA00158OZO07
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Iraqi armed forces intensified their fight against Islamic State on Wednesday (November 16) in the al-Zahraa neighbourhood, located in eastern Mosul.
Large clouds of smoke are seen rising over the residential area following heavy fighting and targeted strikes against militant hideouts.
On Tuesday (November 15) the elite Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) said they had taken control of the al-Zahraa area after pushing Islamic state fighters out.
CTS had faced fierce resistance from the militants over several days, who launched waves of suicide bombers, sniper attacks and ambushes.
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 fourth 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.
More than 56,000 people have been displaced because of the fighting from villages and towns around the city to government-held areas, according to U.N. estimates.
The figure does not include the tens of thousands of people rounded up in villages around Mosul and forced to accompany Islamic State fighters to cover their retreat towards the city. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None