Procedural dispute pits security troops against each other in Mosul, officer killed
Iraqi Counter-Terrorism forces.
A source within the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Force told Mawazin News that clashes erupted in al-Nour district, in eastern Mosul, when the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service blocked a security mission by a team from the National Security Service, a special Defense Ministry squad.
The website said the clashes left one officer dead and another injured.
Sumer News, another website, said the dead officer belonged to the NSS team. It added that the clashes erupted after the counter-terrorism force refused to let the team to carry out searches of civilian houses in the area, voicing fears of “sectarian abuses”.
The website referred to statements by official security sources on Friday saying five NSS regiments had arrived in Mosul to carry out house raids for dormant Islamic State cells based on lists of wanted group elements maintained by the service.
No official comment has yet been made about the reports.
The Counter-Terrorism Force has spearheaded battles by joint Iraqi government forces that managed to retake eastern Mosul from Islamic State militants on January 24th, and is preparing for an upcoming invasion of the group’s strongholds in the western region.