PHOTO: Iraq forces in Gogjali, east of Mosul, on Wednesday (Marko Drobnjakovic/AP)
After days of fighting, Iraqi forces are claiming an advance against the Islamic State south of Mosul, Iraq’s second city.
The Iraqi Army and Federal Police have been held up near Hammal al-Alil, on the Tigris River about 20 km (12.5 miles) from Mosul, but Major-General Thamer al-Husseini said on Friday:
Our units entered the Salahiya district of Hammam al-Alil. We have Hammam al-Alil covered from more than one side and I think within hours we will be able to announce to the Iraqi people the clearing of Hammam al-Alil and surrounding areas.
The UN said that ISIS transported 1,600 abducted civilians from Hammam al-Alil to the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, on Tuesday, and that they took another 150 families from the town to Mosul the next day.
The militants told residents to hand over children, especially boys above the age of nine, in an apparent recruitment drive for child soldiers, UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani asserted.
Iraqi special forces in the Iraqi-Kurdish offensive, which began October 17, has entered the eastern outskirts of Mosul. To the north, Kurdish peshmerga are about 5 km (3 miles) from the city limits.
Police: Roadside Bombs Kill 17 Displaced Civilians
Iraqi police said two roadside bombs struck a convoy carrying Iraqi families fleeing the fighting, killing 17 of the displaced and a police officer.
The bombs targeted a truck carrying people from Hawija, about 120 km (75 miles) south of Mosul, as they were being taken to the town of al-Alam, next to the Tigris River.
Pictures published on social media showed several blackened corpses next to the twisted metal remains of a truck.
