IRAQ: Oil Wells Burn Weeks After Iraqi Town Retaken From Islamic State October 317:39
Fires are still burning at oil wells in Qayyarah, south of Mosul, weeks after Islamic State (IS) militants set them ablaze before fleeing the region in August, Anadolu Agency reported on November 2. Fighters with the militant group also set fire to a sulfur facility near Mosul as they attempted to repel an offensive by Iraqi forces to drive them from the city ? one of their last remaining strongholds in Iraq. These two videos were shared by a local channel and described a showing oil well fires still burning in the oil-producing region of Qayyarah on October 31. Credit: YouTube/ALMawsleya
The leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a 2014 file photo. Picture: AP
THE| Islamic State group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is losing the ability to keep control of his troops as the battle for Mosul rages on, a US military official said.
It came as CNN reported that Iraqi forces had entered Mosul proper for the first time since 2014, days after storming their way into the city’s outskirts..
Iraqi Ministry of Defence spokesman Brig. Gen. Tahsin Ibrahim told CNN that units of the 9th Armored Division had entered the key city and that troops had stormed the neighbourhood of al Intisar in the east.
People watch as safety workers try to extinguish fire from a burning oil field in Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq. Picture: APSource:AP
IS earlier released an audio message purportedly of Baghdadi, in which he urged his jihadi followers not retreat as Iraqi security forces continue their push toward Mosul.
Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the US-led coalition attacking IS in Iraq and Syria, said the military had not officially verified the authenticity of the recording but noted it was “clearly” an effort for IS to communicate with fighters.
An Iraqi special forces soldier stands in a street in Gogjali, an eastern district of Mosul, Iraq. Picture: APSource:AP
“One of the interesting things that we have seen in the English translation of this is that Baghdadi is saying, ‘Don’t fight among yourselves,’” Col. Dorrian told reporters.
“This is the type of thing that a leader who is losing command and control and ability to keep everybody on the same page says. We don’t believe it is going to work.”
Rumours have abounded about the Iraqi jihadist leader’s health and movements but his whereabouts are unclear.
An Iraqi special forces soldier puts up a helmet as a decoy as a sniper gets ready to fire on Islamic State positions in Gogjali, on the eastern edges of Mosul, Iraq. Picture: APSource:AP
In June 2014, days after jihadist fighters swept across swathes of Iraq, he made a rare public appearance in Mosul and announced the creation of an Islamic “state” straddling Iraq and Syria.
The “caliphate” has been shrinking steadily since last year and Iraqi forces earlier this week reached Mosul, the jihadists’ last major stronghold in Iraq.
People queue to receive aid packages in Gogjali, on the eastern edge of Mosul, Iraq. Picture: APSource:AP