Battle for Mosul: Iraqis Enter Town of Famed Ancient Ruins

Local Editor

Iraqi troops entered a town south of Mosul Sunday where Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"] militants destroyed artifacts at a nearby ancient Assyrian archaeological site, while Special Forces fended off suicide bombers during a cautious advance into the northern city.

The push into Nimrud was the most significant gain in several days for government forces, potentially opening up the area for teams to assess the damage done to the famed ruins just outside the town.

The Special Forces hold a handful of districts on Mosul's eastern edge, but their progress has slowed in the face of fierce resistance in dense urban neighborhoods full of civilians.

The operation's commander said troops took Nimrud, some 30 kilometers south of the city, after heavy fighting. It was unclear if they had liberated the nearby 13th-century B.C. archaeological site, which Daesh destroyed with explosives according to videos they released.

Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the US-led forces operating the air campaign assisting the operation against Daesh, said few airstrikes were used near Nimrud, and the advancing Iraqi troops had moved in carefully.

"It's an important gain," he said, but warned that Daesh often leaves behind some combatants. "As Iraqi forces get closer to Mosul, everything becomes more difficult as they like to leave behind a few fighters to spoil the advance."

In Mosul itself, the Special Forces said they have cleared the Qadisiyah and Zahra neighborhoods.

"The only weapons they have left are car bombs and explosives," said Iraqi special forces Maj. Gen. Sami al-Aridi as he radioed with commanders in the field. "There are so many civilian cars and any one of them could be a bomb," he said.

Troops were building berms and road blocks to prevent car bombs from breaching the front lines. Since last week's quick advance into Mosul proper, they have struggled to hold territory under heavy Daesh counterattacks.

Several suicide car bombers attacked the advancing Special Forces Saturday, wounding around a dozen troops, three civilians, and killing a child, officers said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief reporters.

The Iraqi armed forces do not release official casualty figures, but field medics have noted dozens of killed and wounded since the operation to liberate the city began on Oct. 17.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Watch released a report saying that security forces of Iraq's regional Kurdish government had routinely destroyed Arab homes and even some whole villages in areas retaken from Daesh in disputed areas of Kirkuk and Ninevah provinces over the past two years, while Kurdish homes were left intact.

It said the demolitions took place in disputed areas in northern Iraq which the Kurds want to incorporate into their autonomous region over the objections of the central government.

Kurdish authorities said they abide by human rights laws and deny having any strategy to destroy homes. But they say some villages in which the population fought alongside Daesh had suffered extensive destruction because of the ferocity of the battles.

Also Sunday, a wave of attacks in and around Baghdad martyred at least 23 people and wounded 70 others, inflaming already combustive sectarian tensions in the country.

Police and health officials said many of the attacks struck Shiites on their way to an annual pilgrimage, with the deadliest bombing taking place in Baghdad's northern Shaab neighborhood. There, an explosives-laden car parked near a checkpoint martyred a policeman and two civilians, and wounded 12 others.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team