Islamic State on alert in western Mosul after member strangled to death
A dead ISIS fighter
A local source in Nineveh told Alsumaria News that the group imposed a curfew in three residential areas in Tal Afar after the dead militant’s body was found, and arrested more than ten people suspected of involvement, taking them to an unknown destination.
Iraqi joint government forces recaptured the whole of the eastern section of Mosul on January 24th after three months of battles with IS militants, and are preparing for a ground invasion of the west which U.S.-led coalition jets have built up for with airstrikes over the past two weeks.
Islamic State has lost at least 3300 members until the recapture of eastern Mosul, according to Iraqi military officials. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told France 24 on Tuesday that the extremist group’s supreme commander, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been located and was isolated after many of his fellow commanders were killed.
The group has been ravaged with personnel and financial losses as well divisions within its ranks since security operations to retake Mosul launched.
“ISIL is militarily on the defensive in several regions, notably in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and the Syrian Arab Republic,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report early Tuesday.