Video: As Iraqi forces press on in Mosul, Islamic State launches Kirkuk counterattack

Suspected Islamic State militants killed 18 people in Kirkuk on Friday, four days after Iraqi and Kurdish forces started an offensive to take back control of Mosul </s> BAGHDAD (AP) — The Latest on the Iraqi forces' offensive to retake the Islamic State-held city of Mosul (all times local):



3:45 p.m.



An Iraqi officer says troops have killed eight Islamic State group militants while carrying out house-to-house clearances in the newly-recaptured neighborhood of Gogjali in eastern Mosul.



Lt. Col. Muhanad al-Timimi of the Iraqi special forces tells The Associated Press Wednesday that six of the militants were killed inside a tunnel. He says the other two militants attempted to approach the troops and were shot dead.



One of the militants was wearing an explosives-laden vest.



Meanwhile, hundreds of civilians streamed out of the adjacent neighborhood of al-Samah, some holding white flags. All the women wore niqab, a veil that entirely covers the face or only has a small, slit-like opening for the eyes. All of the men were bearded



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3:20 p.m.



A human rights watchdog says government-sanctioned tribal Sunni militia taking part in the military operation to retake the Islamic State group stronghold of Mosul have carried out revenge attacks against men and boys in areas recently recaptured from the militants.



London-based Amnesty International said in a statement on Wednesday that fighters from the Sab'awi tribe unlawfully rounded up civilians, beat them with metal rods, gave them electric shocks, placed them in cages and tied some of them to the bonnets of vehicles before parading them through the streets.



The allegations are based on interviews with local officials and eyewitnesses, who said the violations took place in a group of villages located on the south-eastern bank of the Tigris river and under the control of the Sab'wai tribal militia.



Lynn Maalouf, deputy director for research at Amnesty International's Beirut office, describes the violations as "crimes under international law" and adds that Iraqi authorities "must rein in the tribal militia fighters responsible and bring them to justice."



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1:50 p.m.



Iraqi forces say they are advancing on the southern approach to the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, a front where they have been making slower progress than to the east.



The Commandeer of the Mosul Operation, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Raheed Yar Allah, says in a statement that Federal Police Forces have retaken four villages near Hamam al-Alil area.



A spokesman for the Joint Military Command, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, confirmed that the operation happened on Wednesday morning.



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12:20 p.m.



Iraqi special forces are going house-to-house in Mosul's easternmost neighborhood of Gogjali where sappers are searching roads for explosives and booby traps Islamic State militants could have left behind before they were driven out a day earlier.



Gen. Abdul-Ghani al-Asadi, the top counterterrorism forces commander, says the special forces had imposed a curfew in the neighborhood while gains there are being consolidated.



Al-Asadi says that "we fear that Daesh militants could attack our forces or the town with mortars." Daesh is the Arabic acronym for IS.



The general also says that "for the safety of the families, we ask them to stay inside their houses." He spoke in Bartella, some 15 kilometers, or 9 miles, behind the front lines.



Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil says Iraqi special forces arrested three suspected Daesh militants in the area of Gogjali.



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10:30 a.m.



An aid agency is warning that the lives of more than 1 million civilians trapped inside the Islamic State-held Mosul "are in grave danger" as Iraqi troops advance and set foot inside the city where fighting is expected to intensify.



The Norwegian Refugee Council, which works with refugees and internally displaced Iraqis, says that around 18,000 Iraqis have fled their homes since the start of the massive military operation to retake Mosul over two weeks ago.



The council's Iraq chief, Wolfgang Gressmann, says the agency's aid workers "are now bracing ... for the worst. The lives of 1.2 million civilians are in grave danger, and the future of all of Iraq is now in the balance."



In their battle for Mosul, Iraqi forces for the first time in two years on Tuesday entered the eastern Gogjali and Karama neighborhoods inside Mosul's city limits.



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10:10 a.m.



An Iraqi special forces general says his troops are holding their positions along Mosul's eastern outskirts as poor weather hampers visibility in operations to rout Islamic State fighters from the country's second-largest city.



Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil says no advances are planned for Wednesday, as high humidity and clouds obscure the view of aircraft and drones.



From the Mosul neighborhood of Gogjali, which is inside city limits but just outside more urban districts, the guns have gone largely silent, although sporadic rifle cracks could be heard as well as some army artillery fire on IS positions.



The pause comes after Iraqi troops on Tuesday set foot in the city for the first time in more than two years, gearing up for urban warfare expected to take weeks, if not months. </s> The Latest on the developments in Iraq where Iraqi forces and their allies launched a major offensive this week to retake Mosul, the country's second-largest city from the Islamic State group (all times local):

Iran's Foreign Ministry has condemned an Islamic State assault in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk and says four Iranians were killed in that attack.

The official IRNA news agency quoted ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi as saying that another three Iranians were wounded in the assault.

IS launched a wave of coordinated attacks in an around the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk early on Friday that appeared to be aimed at diverting security forces from a massive offensive underway around the IS-held city of Mosul.

The police chief in a town north of Kirkuk says IS militants attacked a power plant there, killing 11 workers, including two Iranians, before blowing themselves up. It was not immediately clear if Iranians were targeted in other attacks.

A convoy of 20 trucks has left the Turkish capital with humanitarian assistance to northern Iraq. The aid comes as Iraqi and Kurdish troops are pressing ahead with an operation to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group.

Kerem Kinik, the president of the Turkish Red Crescent, said during a send-off ceremony in Ankara on Friday that the trucks will deliver some 500 tons of aid to people fleeing the fighting in the regions of Mosul and Tal Afar. The Red Crescent says the trucks are carrying food, clothing, bedding and tents.

Kinik said his organization was also making contingency plans to help Iraqi officials deal with larger population movements, including enlarging the capacity of a camp for displaced persons.

He says that that as the Mosul battle continues, there is a "risk of a large migration wave."

Iraqi police say three Islamic State militants have stormed a power plant north of the city of Kirkuk, killing 11 workers, including two Iranians, before blowing themselves up.

Maj. Ahmed Kader Ali says the suicide bombers entered the facility early on Friday, took 10 workers hostage, and asked to be taken to the Iranians who worked there. One of the workers took them to the Iranians before escaping. The militants then killed the Iranians and the other workers, and detonated their explosive vests when police arrived.

The attack took place in the town of Dibis, to the north of Kirkuk city, where another militant assault was underway.

Kirkuk is some 170 kilometers (100 miles) from the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, where Iraqi forces have been waging a wide-scale offensive since Monday.

An Iraqi Kurdish TV channel says all the Islamic State militants who took part in an assault in the northern city of Kirkuk have been killed except for two who are holed up in a damaged building.

Rudaw TV says all the fighters who stormed a police compound early on Friday have been killed. It says the two remaining militants are battling Kurdish forces in a newly built hotel that was damaged in the fighting.

There was no immediate word on casualties among civilians or Kurdish forces.

The militants launched a pre-dawn assault on the city, which is around 170 kilometers (100 miles) from the IS-held city of Mosul, where Iraqi forces have launched a wide-scale offensive.

The Islamic State group says its fighters have stormed a government compound in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

The claim was carried by the IS-run Aamaq news agency early on Friday, and could not immediately be verified.

Witnesses in Kirkuk say militants attacked two police compounds early Friday and reported hearing heavy gunfire and explosions.

Live footage from the Kurdish Rudaw TV shows smoke rising from the city. The station quoted however Kirkuk Governor Najmadin Karim as saying that militants have not seized any government buildings.

Kirkuk is around 170 kilometers (100 miles) from the IS-held city of Mosul. Iraq launched a massive operation to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city, earlier this week.

The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

Witnesses in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk say armed militants have attacked a local police compound and that fighting is underway.

They say multiple explosions have rocked the city so far in Friday's assault and that gunfire could be heard ringing through the city.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The attack comes as the Iraqi government and Kurdish forces are making a major push to drive Islamic State militants from Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity as they are concerned for their safety.

Kirkuk is an oil rich city some 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad that is claimed by both Iraq's central government and the country's Kurdish region. </s> Story highlights Iraqi forces claim 79 ISIS militants killed on first day of operation

Mosul's west bank has been one of the Iraqi force's toughest challenges

(CNN) Iraq has launched an operation to regain control of western Mosul from ISIS militants, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Sunday.

The operation comes weeks after Iraqi forces recaptured eastern Mosul across the Tigris River. On the first day of the new offensive, Iraqi Federal Police forces said they killed 79 ISIS militants, destroyed weapons facilities and regained control of 10 villages.

The prime minister described the operation as a "new dawn" in the liberation of Mosul, ISIS' last major stronghold in the country.

"Go forward with my blessing, heroic forces of Iraq," he said on state television.

Fighters of the Popular Mobilisation paramilitaries prepare defensive positions near the frontline village of Ayn al-Hisan, on the outskirts of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, on Saturday.

Fears of 'deadly and indiscriminate' deaths

Read More </s> The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Sunday, (19 February) announced the launch of a ground offensive in western Mosul to drive the Islamic State (Isis) out of the area.

"We announce the start of a new phase in the operation, we are coming to Nineveh to liberate the western side of Mosul. Our forces are beginning the liberation of the citizens from the terror of Daesh [IS]," he added.

The Iraqi air force has reportedly dropped leaflets on western Mosul warning its residents of an impending ground offensive to oust the IS (Daesh) from the area, the Iraqi defence ministry said in a statement, Reuters reported.

The statement said the leaflets "contain instructions for the citizens to get ready to welcome the Iraqi forces that are coming to liberate their areas and to warn the Daesh (Islamic State) members to lay down their weapons and surrender".

At least 650,000 civilians in western Mosul are under siege along with the Isis militants. The US backed Iraqi forces were successful in ousting the terrorist group from the eastern part of Mosul in a battle that came to an end in January and now have all but surrounded the western side.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has warned that the safety of the thousands of civilians trapped in the area is a top priority.

Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Iraq told the BBC that it had made the safety of civilians its top priority when the Iraqi forces waged an offensive to take back eastern Mosul.

She added that the Iraqi forces "need to ensure that that humanitarian concept of operations is adhered to, and that all of the parties to the conflict do absolutely everything they can to ensure that civilians survive the battle, and that they live."

"Absolutely nothing is more important going into the campaign to retake western Mosul," Grande said.

According to reports, retaking western Mosul could prove to be a bigger challenge due to its narrow streets. </s> (IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – General Commander of Iraqi Armed forces and Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, announced on Monday launching the battle to liberate Mosul from the ISIS grip, and pointed out that the security forces that will participate in the battle are Iraqi army, police and national police.

Prime Minister Haider Abadi said in a speech on state TV, “I announce today the start of the heroic operations to free you from the terror and the oppression of Daesh (ISIS).”

“We will meet soon on the ground of Mosul to celebrate liberation and your salvation,” Abadi added.

Abadi also called the people of Mosul to cooperate with the security forces, and emphasized that the battle will be handled by the Iraqi army and national police only.

Nearly 65,000 military personnel including Iraqi soldiers, Kurdish Peshmerga militia and Sunni tribal fighters were expected to participate in the offensive to liberate the city of more than 5,000 ISIS militants. </s> MOSUL, Iraq — The Islamic State group is striking back as Iraqi forces are on the cusp of full victory in Mosul, sending women suicide bombers to target soldiers as the battle for the country's second-largest city nears its end. At least 15 people were killed in the latest assaults across Iraq, officials said Monday.

On Monday morning in Mosul's Old City neighborhood — the scene of the Islamic State's last stand, where soldiers are fast closing in on the last remaining pocket of militants — two women suicide bombers, hiding among a group of fleeing civilians, targeted Iraqi troops, killing one soldier and wounding several others.

And at a camp for displaced people in Iraq's western Anbar province, a suicide bomber dressed in a woman's all-covering robe killed 14 Sunday evening, a provincial official said.

After days of fierce battles, the militant-held territory in Mosul is rapidly shrinking, with the Islamic State now controlling just about 0.40 square miles in all.

Using women as suicide bombers is apparently the latest tactic by the militants, Sgt. Ali Abdullah Hussein told The Associated Press as he returned from the front line, his troops carrying the body of their slain comrade wrapped in a blanket.

"They appeared from the basement [of a building], and they blew themselves up," Hussein said of the two women bombers.

The attack happened in the area of the destroyed al-Nuri Mosque, which was the focus of the Iraqi forces' push last week.

Over the past three days, Hussein said at least four such attacks have targeted Iraqi forces as hundreds of Mosul's civilians are fleeing the battles in the Old City's congested streets.

The Islamic State overran Mosul in a matter of days more than three years ago. The U.S.-backed offensive to retake the city was launched last October and has lasted nearly nine months, although Iraqi political and military officials had vowed that victory would be declared by the end of 2016.

Iraqi forces launched the operation to retake the Old City in mid-June and after a dawn push last Thursday, they retook the area around the al-Nuri Mosque, which the militants had blown up just a few days earlier.

After the Iraqi forces retook the landmark al-Nuri Mosque, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared an end to the Islamic State's so-called caliphate and pledged victory was "near." </s> BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces have launched operations to retake Mosul, a city whose capture by the Islamic State group two years ago left the country on the brink of collapse, the prime minister said Monday.

The northern city was where IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi publicly proclaimed a “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria in June 2014.

With the support of Iran and a US-led coalition, Iraqi forces have since regained much of the ground lost to IS and Mosul is the extremist group’s last major stronghold in Iraq.

“Today I declare the start of these victorious operations to free you from the violence and terrorism of Daesh (IS),” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a televised address.

The commander-in-chief of Iraq’s armed forces did not divulge details of the latest movements on the ground but forces have recently been tightening the noose around Mosul.

A coalition of myriad and sometimes rival Iraqi forces — including the US-led coalition, Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi government forces — will have to fight their way through IS defences to reach the city, in some cases over distances of dozens of kilometres.

Then they will likely seek to surround the city before launching an assault, marking the start of deadly street fighting with die-hard jihadists.

Abadi vowed that only government forces would enter Mosul, a Sunni-majority city that IS seized with relative ease partly because of local resentment towards the Shiite-dominated security forces.

Shiite militia groups have been accused of serious abuses against Sunni civilians in the course of operations to reconquer territory from IS.

“The force leading liberation operations is the brave Iraqi army with the national police and they are the ones that will enter Mosul, not others,” Abadi said.

Baghdad is also keen to check the influence of the autonomous Kurdish region, which significantly expanded the territory it controls on the back of the 2014 jihadist assault.

The Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary organisation, which is dominated by Tehran-backed militia groups, has made clear it wants to take part in the Mosul operation.

Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces have been moving in from the eastern side of the city while a US-led coalition is also providing support in the air and on the ground.

Turkey, which borders northern Iraq, has also offered to join the offensive on Mosul.

The start of the much-delayed offensive on Mosul risks sparking a humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations warning that up to one million people may be displaced by the fighting as winter sets in.

The jihadists are not thought to number more than 5,000 and will be vastly outnumbered but the battleground is vast and the area’s ethnic and religious diversity makes it politically complex.

Abadi’s announcement came a day after rebel forces in the Syrian half of IS’ shrinking “caliphate” retook Dabiq, a town which holds crucial ideological significance for the group and where it had promised an apocalyptic battle.

Iraqi forces recently retook Qayyarah, an area some 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of Mosul, setting the stage for the final push on IS’s northern bastion.

The force that has led operations to recapture other IS strongholds in Iraq, such as Fallujah in June or Ramadi earlier this year, is the elite counter-terrorism service.

Thousands of other army and police forces have also been converging on Mosul in recent weeks.

Abadi has promised that Iraq would be rid of the most violent organisation in modern jihad by year’s end.

But even the recapture of Mosul will not mark the end of the war against IS, which still holds other territory in Iraq and is likely to turn increasingly to insurgent tactics such as bombings and hit-and-run attacks as it loses more ground. – AFP </s> Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul on Sunday and congratulated Iraqi armed forces for driving the extremist militant Islamic State (ISIS) group out of its major stronghold in the country.

Iraqi armed forces, backed by a United States-led coalition, were battling ISIS in Mosul for months. The victory marks the end of the battle that left Iraq's second largest city in ruins, killed hundreds of people and displaced almost a million civilians.

Abadi's office said he was visiting "liberated" Mosul to congratulate his "heroic fighters". However, the Prime Minister later suggested he would only declare victory once final pockets of resistance were cleared.

"Victory is certain, and the (IS) remnants are surrounded... and it is just a matter of time for us to announce the great victory to our people," Abadi said in a statement.

The delay "comes out of my respect and support for our... forces who are continuing the clearing operation," he said.

"There are only one or two pockets of Daesh remnants left," and "the major victory is in hand," the premier added, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Iraqi troops are reportedly still battling ISIS militants in some of the last areas of resistance, and could be facing guerrilla attacks for weeks.

The prime minister's office said that Abadi met commanders in Mosul and issued a series of orders on "sustaining victories and eliminating the defeated remnants" of ISIS, as well as "establishing security and stability in the liberated city."

Although most of Mosul has been reclaimed by the Iraqi forces, they still face dangers ahead with ISIS sleeper cells and suicide bombers.

The forces would also need to clear all the houses in the city, which are rigged with explosive traps so that civilians can return to the region.

The battle against ISIS is still a long way to go in Iraq as other cities continue to remain under the group's control.
ISIL claims responsibility as a response to take back launching of its stronghold Mosul by the Iraqi forces.