Two Iraqi soldiers wounded as civilian shoots them mistakenly in Mosul
Security forces defend their headquarters against attacks by Islamic State during sand storm in Ramadi. (AP Photo)
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) – Two Iraqi soldiers were wounded Wednesday when a man mistakenly opened fire at them in Mosul city, Nineveh, believing that they were belonging to Islamic State.
A security source told the Iraqi Shafaq News website that “a man opened fire at two soldiers after they stormed his house in Albu Saif village in southern Mosul.”
“The man shot the pair after he believed that they were IS members, who disguised themselves as soldiers,” the source added.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced last year liberation of the second largest Iraqi city of Mosul from IS militants, who had captured it in 2014. More than 25,000 militants were killed throughout the campaign, which started in October 2016.
A government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and a U.S.-led international coalition, has been fighting the Islamic State group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.
Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in Iraq last November with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.