{"id":331532,"date":"2017-06-26T08:23:07","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T08:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=331532"},"modified":"2017-06-26T08:23:07","modified_gmt":"2017-06-26T08:23:07","slug":"battle-for-mosul-iraq-forces-repel-is-counter-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/06\/battle-for-mosul-iraq-forces-repel-is-counter-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle for Mosul: Iraq forces repel IS counter-attack"},"content":{"rendered":"
Fighters of so-called Islamic State (IS) have launched counter-attacks as they come under growing pressure from Iraqi forces in Mosul.<\/p>\n
IS deployed large numbers of suicide bombers in different parts of the northern Iraqi city but the affected areas were quickly brought under control, Iraqi officials say.<\/p>\n
IS has now been squeezed into a square mile of territory in Mosul’s Old City.<\/p>\n
It is the final phase of an Iraqi offensive to remove them from Mosul.<\/p>\n
It is clear that these are the dying days of IS in Mosul, the BBC’s Orla Guerin reports from the edge of the Old City where she is moving with Iraqi forces.<\/p>\n
The jihadists blew up the city’s landmark al-Nuri mosque last Wednesday. This has now given Iraqi forces a clear hand to move more swiftly against IS and they have certainly done so, our correspondent adds.<\/p>\n
There were some 20 air strikes against the group on Sunday, and more overnight. Helicopter gunships pounded IS positions and extensive mortar fire was heard.<\/p>\n
At least two IS counter-attacks were reported on Sunday night. The Baghdad-based Kurdish Shafaq news agency reported three attacks by the group in western Mosul – in Al-Tanak, Rajm Hadid and Al-Yarmouk districts.<\/p>\n
Residents’ houses were set on fire, the agency said.<\/p>\n
Eyewitness: Sally Becker, aid worker<\/strong><\/p>\n I was just a couple of streets away from one of the IS counter-attacks.<\/p>\n We had around 20 bodies (Iraqi soldiers) here yesterday and many more injured. In fact the trauma stabilisation point (TSP) is full of soldiers right now. A brigadier arrived with a bullet in his neck yesterday afternoon and it was shortly after that everything went a bit crazy.<\/p>\n There were cars set alight on and the roads were closed.<\/p>\n According to sources here around 20 jihadists escaped from the Old City and popped up a couple of blocks from our TSP. In addition to this, the jihadist snipers have night vision goggles which meant the Iraqi army could only move very slowly.<\/p>\n It’s definitely calmed down a bit now although between about 5 and 7 this morning it was pretty full on.<\/p>\n The offensive against IS in Mosul, the group’s biggest and last urban stronghold in Iraq, was launched on 17 October 2016.<\/p>\n Thousands of Iraqi security forces, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen, assisted by US-led coalition warplanes and military advisers, are deployed.<\/p>\n