News / Iraq

Daesh terrorists flee Iraq’s Mosul as ringleaders killed

Wednesday, 23 November 2016 3:09 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 23 November 2016 6:08 PM ]

Members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units flash the sign of victory from the back of a truck as they drive towards the village of Umm Sijan, south of Mosul, Iraq, on October 31, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Daesh has called on its members to flee Mosul as the Takfiri terrorist group is dealt heavy blows amid advances made by the Iraqi forces and their allied fighters in a major operation to liberate the strategic city.

Daesh has urged its elements to leave Mosul, Iraqi media outlets reported on Wednesday, without elaborating on where the terrorists will go to.

Meanwhile, unidentified Iraqi sources said that the order came after the Iraqi forces killed several Daesh ringleaders and top commanders and destroyed their vehicles, military equipment, arms depots and tunnels.

In another development on the frontline, Iraqi security sources said volunteer fighters had managed to complete the isolation of Daesh-held Mosul by cutting off the Takfiri terrorist group’s only remaining supply line between the northern Iraqi city and Syria.

According to the officials, the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Hashd al-Shaabi forces, reached the path connecting the towns of Tal Afar and Sinjar, west of Mosul, and linked up with other Iraqi troops there on Wednesday.

"Hashd forces have cut off the Tal Afar-Sinjar road," senior PMU commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (seen below) said.

Daesh still remains in control of the 60-kilometer road between Mosul and Tal Afar, he further pointed out, adding, "This is what we are dealing with now.”

Additionally, an unnamed Kurdish security official confirmed that the PMU forces had linked up with Kurdish troops in three villages around the Tal Afar-Sinjar road.

The advance came as Mosul was already ringed to the south, north and east by the Iraqi forces.

The Iraqi military estimates that 5,000-6,000 militants are still in Mosul. The terrorists are reportedly facing a 100,000-strong coalition of the army soldiers and allied fighters, who have been leading a major offensive to retake Mosul, the last Daesh bastion in the country, since October 17.

Mosul fell to Daesh two years ago, when the terror outfit began its campaign of death and destruction in northern and western Iraq.

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