Iraqi police catch 10 ISIS elements among refugees in eastern Mosul
Iraqi refugees
“Nineveh’s local police forces detained 10 ISIS members who escorted their families during migration to al-Khazir refugee camp east of Mosul,” Birg. Gen. Watheq al-Hamadani, Nineveh police chief, was quoted as saying by DPA news agency.
The arrests occurred after the forces scrutinized the names of persons on the wanted list and arrested ten “whose hands were stained with blood with the group,” as Hamadani put it. They were driven to Nineveh’s police headquarter for interrogation.
Despite fierce resistance, Islamic State militants have reportedly been losing ground and equipment in Mosul, their last stronghold in Iraq, since Iraqi government forces and US-led air forces launched a major campaign to recapture the city in October. Many militants and their families reportedly fled the city to Syria or other regions in Iraq still under the group’s control.
The battles forced at least 103.000 people to leave homes in Mosul to refugee camps in Nineveh and other provinces, according to recent data from the migration ministry. Concerns persist over the fate of hundreds of thousands others stranded in the battlefields, with Iraqi commanders saying that the existence of civilians there slows down the progress of operations and dictating extra cautiousness.
There are at least 3 million internally dispalced people inside Iraq, according to UN data.