Iraqi special forces have moved more than 1,000 people from villages near the front lines of the battle to retake the Islamic State-held city of Mosul and surrounding areas, where the U.N. says militants have committed a number of atrocities in recent days, officials said Wednesday.
(FOX)- Special forces Maj. Gen. Haider Fadhil said residents of Tob Zawa and other villages were taken to a camp in the nearby Khazer region for their safety. The International Organization for Migration says around 9,000 people have been displaced since the operation to retake Mosul began on Oct. 17.
The special forces were undertaking cleanup operations in areas retaken from the militants to the east of the city, where troops uncovered a vast tunnel network used by IS to shuttle fighters and supplies by motorcycle, Maj. Salam al-Obeidi said.
Iraqi forces have been pushing toward Mosul from several directions since the launch of the wide-scale offensive, which involves more than 25,000 Iraqi soldiers, Kurdish forces, Sunni tribal fighters and state-sanctioned Shiite militiamen. It is expected to take week, if not months, to drive IS from its last urban bastion in the country.
The militants have had months to prepare for the long-awaited operation and are believed to have developed extensive defenses in and around the city.
“They’ve really dug in, literally, and started putting up the berms, the trenches, the tunneling systems,” said a U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the subject with reporters. “And they’re quite extensive tunneling systems, some of them stretching upward of two kilometers (over a mile).”
He said Iraqi forces have found homes near Mosul where the lights are wired with explosives that detonate if you flip the switch. Inside Mosul, the IS group has set up large concrete barriers known as T-walls, blocking off several streets.