The Islamic State killed several people, including two Iraqi journalists, in an attack on the village of Imam Gharbi that lasted from Wednesday to Friday.
Analysts described the attack as a diversion to draw Iraqi troops away from Mosul, where the Islamic State’s capital in Iraq is on the verge of falling.
Reuters quotes security sources who said ISIS militants infiltrated the village, which sits on the western bank of the Tigris River about 44 miles south of Mosul, on Wednesday night. The attack was apparently launched from territory ISIS still controls on the east bank of the Tigris.
Terrorist fighters occupied the village until Iraqi forces counterattacked on Friday and still appeared in control of about half of Imam Gharbi as of Friday evening.
According to a U.N. statement quoted by Reuters, the fighting around Imam Gharbi forced the suspension of relief operations at sites housing 80,000 refugees just north of the village, leaving them in danger of running out of water as the temperature hits 104 degrees.
Newsweek theorizes that ISIS is pushing toward the Qayara airbase, which the United States controls. Islamic State social media accounts posted images of militants in control of some buildings in Qayara, along with a eulogy for suicide bombers ostensible killed during the offensive.
Radio Free Europe reported on Friday that ISIS also staged a counterattack from the Old City of Mosul, where the terror state is said to control only a few blocks of territory now. According to Iraqi officers, the counterattack pushed their forces back about 75 meters and wounded half a dozen of their soldiers.
“In recent days, Iraqi and coalition officials have expressed optimism that U.S.-backed forces were nearing victory in the battle to liberate Mosul,” RFE writes. “But the latest counterattacks appeared to indicate more bloody fighting was likely to occur before Mosul and the surrounding region can be fully liberated.”
According to the UK Daily Mail, Iraqi television correspondent Harb Hazaa al-Dulaimi and cameraman Sudad al-Duri were killed in the fighting for Imam Gharbi, while a third journalist, Mustafa Wahadi, was trapped somewhere in the village.
Wahadi has been posting increasingly desperate pleas for military assistance on his Facebook page. “The situation around me is very desperate. Daesh is close. This may be my last post, maybe I will be killed,” read one of his messages.
A spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry said security forces were attempting to reach the area where Wahadi and others are pinned down, but their advance has been slowed by Islamic State snipers.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.