Security recapture 8 Mosul villages, Hashd rescue 200 families
Tanks of Iraqi army take part in an operation against Islamic State militants southeast of Mosul, Iraq November 26, 2016. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
The forces also demolished four underground tunnels north of the city that were used for escape by the militants, according to the statement by the War Media Cell.
The latest villages won from ISIS included Nawafla Oula, Nawafla Thania, Tahrir district, Orta Kharab and other villages in the northern line of operations.
“An IED factory was also dismantled in Simaq village…mortar launching equipment and other leftovers were seized,” read the statement.
Iraqi security officials have said recently that the forces became in control of more than 50 percent of the eastern section of Mosul. ISIS remains in control over most of the western section which neighbors the Syrian borders, but commanders at the government and popular forces say they had succeeded to encircle the group inside Nineveh and deprived it of its supply routes from Syria.
Also in Mosul, Abdullatif al-Sinjari, a major at the interior ministry’s SWAT teams, stated that ISIS militants toured the neighborhoods of Baladiyat, al-Sadeq and al-Muthanna, east of Mosul, forcing families to leave homes to other areas under the group’s control, threatening to kill non-complying citizens.
The officer clarified that the group aims to demolish the evacuated homes as means to facilitate its movement in face of Iraqi troops upon their entrance.
On the western side of the city, al-Hashd al-Shaabi militia’s media service said its fighters managed Monday to rescue 200 families from ISIS captivity near Tal Afar. “Al-Hashd forces relocated those families to more secure spots.