Iraqi forces retake southern Mosul village from Islamic State
Iraqi army armoured fighting vehicles (AFV) cross as military pontoon bridge one the way to the frontline in western Mosul, Iraq June 7, 2017. Picture taken June 7, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi forces on Wednesday took over a village in Mosul which was re-invaded by Islamic State militants just before the government declared victory over the group in the city.
Shafaq News website quoted a security source regained control over Imam Gharbi, a village in Qayyara, on the borders with Salahuddin province. Militants stormed the village two weeks ago and killed a number of pro-government paramilitary troopers and two journalists. Iraqi joint troops invaded the village last Friday.
Also in Mosul, Iraqi police arrested four women members of the Islamic State hiding in the middle of refugees in the eastern side of the city.
BasNews quoted Cap. Ahmed al-Obaidi saying that the four women served with the group’s vigilantism squads. They were arrested based on an intelligence tip at a house in al-Masaref neighborhood, he added.
Since it took over a third of Iraq and Syria in 2014 to establish a self-styled “caliphate”, Islamic State drafted male and female vigilantes to observe the implementation of its extreme religious code of conduct. Harsh punishments, sometimes mounting to death, were imposed on violators.
Iraqi government forces took over eastern Mosul late January and concluded its campaign to retake the whole city earlier this month by taking over the western side.
Iraqi security authorities occasionally said they arrested IS-linked individuals hiding among refugees.
The war in Mosul displaced more than 900.000 people.