Tuesday, March 19, 2024

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Airstrike kills 14 IS members in western Mosul, destroy training camp

 Airstrike kills 14 IS members in western Mosul, destroy training camp

Bodies of members of the Islamic State group.

Bodies of members of the Islamic State group.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi fighter jets killed 14 Islamic State members on Sunday when they pounded their training camp in an area west of Mosul, according to military media.

The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said the strikes targeted an IS training camp in Serg-Khana region. Among those killed was Abu Thabet al-Ansari, a senior area commander within IS in western Mosul.

Serg-Khana area, western Mosul (google maps).

Iraqi government troops, backed by air forces from the U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, have been struggling to clear western Mosul from Islamic State militants since operations launched on February to recapture that region in February. Troops took over the eastern part of the city in January.

Airstrikes by the international coalition have been blamed over the past week for hundreds of civilian casualties, but the Iraqi command has also accused Islamic State of using civilians as human shields and fabricating reports of civilian casualties to tarnish the security campaign against the group.

Iraqi troops have been pressing on central Mosul’s Old City, a strategic target which commanders believe could put the scale of battles in their favor if recaptured.

The conflict in Mosul has so far displaced 433.000 since the launch of the campaign against IS in October. More than 200.000 were displaced in the western region alone since February.

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