UPDATED: Iraqi forces tell IS in Tal Afar to choose surrender or death
An Iraqi air force plane dropping messages at an Islamic State-held area.
Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi government forces are telling Islamic State militants to choose between surrendering or death as forces as troops reach the heart of the group’s last holdout in Nineveh province.
Intelligence sources told Alsumaria News that government forces used loudspeakers in the enclave to tell fighters to surrender ot otherwise face death, to which fighters were thrown into chaos and responded with chants through mosques’ loudspeakers to interrupt the security forces’ calls.
Iraqi air forces had also dropped one million messages on the town telling people to write an Arabic letter on the houses where Islamic State members are bunkered, and advising them to stay away from those areas, understandably preparing to strike them, according to the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell (WMC).
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared early Sunday the launch of operations to recapture the enclave where military commanders believe up to 2000 fighters are deployed.
Over the past few days, Iraqi field commanders reported progress on the ground, saying government and paramilitary troops had reached the center of the town.
The United Nations says 40.000 civilians had fled the town while 30.000 are believed to be stranded inside.
The Iraqi government plans to wage further offensives at other IS holdouts in Anbar, Kirkuk and Salahuddin once it is done with the recapture of Tal Afar, which commanders predict to be achieved soon.