Three Islamic State underground tunnels discovered northwest of Mosul

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army forces on Monday discovered three underground tunnels dug by Islamic State militants in northwest Mosul as troops continue to comb areas recaptured from the militant group.

A military source told Kurdish-owned BasNews website that Iraqi army forces, acting upon information obtained from local residents, found three underground tunnels belonging to IS in Qairawan, a region which pro-government paramilitary forces recaptured in June.

Lit. Col. Sallam al-Khaffaf told the website that the tunnels contained communication kits, a huge amount of cell phones militants had confiscated from civilians and lists with names of civilians executed by the group.

Islamic State had relied on tunnels both to escape from, and attack, Iraqi security forces during more than eight months of operations to retake areas held by the militants in Nineveh province which began in October 2016.

Since the Iraqi government declared early July the recapture of Mosul, Islamic State’s former capital in Iraq, police forces have been combing the western side of the city for sleeper militant cells and munition hiding places. The militants have also launched a few sporadic attacks against troops and civilians since the declaration.

The Iraqi government intends to aim at other Islamic State havens in Anbar, Kirkuk and Salahuddin once it is done with retaking Tal Afar, Islamic State’s last stronghold in Nineveh which the Defense Ministry had completed preparations for invading. The Defense Ministry said recently it was waiting for orders to launch operations for the enclave. So far, operations by pro-government militias, the Popular Mobilization, have isolated the town from Mosul and from the Syrian borders, and retook several surrounding villages.