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Iraq
forces
shell IS
near
Mosul;
group
urges
airstrike
probe
By QASSIM
ABDUL-ZAHRA
and
JOSEPH
KRAUSS
ap.org
BARTELLA,
Iraq -
Iraqi
forces
shelled
Islamic
State
positions
outside
Mosul on
Monday
as
fighting
to
retake
the
extremist-held
city
entered
its
second
week and
a rights
group
urged a
probe
into a
suspected
airstrike
that hit
a
mosque,
killing
over a
dozen
civilians.
The
purported
airstrike
in
northern
Iraq
struck
the
women's
section
of a
Shiite
mosque
on
Friday
in the
town of
Daquq
amid a
large
Islamic
State
assault
on the
nearby
city of
Kirkuk.
That
assault
was
meant to
distract
the
Iraqi
forces
and
their
allies
from the
massive
operation
around
Mosul,
the
country's
second
largest
city.
Human
Rights
Watch
said
Daquq's
residents
believe
the
attack
was an
airstrike
because
of the
extent
of the
destruction
and
because
planes
could be
heard
flying
overhead.
The New
York-based
watchdog
said at
least 13
people
were
reported
killed.
The
U.S.-led
coalition
and the
Iraqi
military,
which
are
waging
the
offensive
to drive
IS from
Mosul,
are the
only
parties
known to
be
flying
military
aircraft
over
Iraq.
Col.
John
Dorrian,
a U.S.
military
spokesman,
said the
coalition
had
"definitively
determined"
that it
did not
conduct
the
airstrike
that
killed
civilians
in Daquq,
and had
shared
its
findings
with the
Iraqi
government,
which is
carrying
out its
own
investigation.
"The
Coalition
uses
precision
munitions
and an
exhaustive
process
to
reduce
the
possibility
of
civilian
casualties
and
collateral
damage
because
the
preservation
of
civilian
life is
(of)
paramount
importance
to us,"
Dorrian
said.
Iraqi
Brig.
Gen.
Yahya
Rasool,
the
spokesman
for the
Joint
Military
Command,
confirmed
the
Iraqi
government
was
investigating
the
attack.
He
declined
to say
whether
Iraqi or
coalition
planes
were
flying
in the
area at
the time
of the
explosion.
The
strike
in Daquq,
around
40
kilometers
(25
miles)
south of
Kirkuk,
took
place as
dozens
of IS
militants
attacked
several
government
and
security
compounds
in and
around
the city
of
Kirkuk,
some 170
kilometers
(100
miles)
southeast
of
Mosul.
The
assault
lasted
for two
days and
killed
at least
80
people,
mainly
security
forces.
IS
launched
a
similar
attack
on the
western
Iraqi
town of
Rutba,
hundreds
of
kilometers
(miles)
away
from
Mosul,
on
Sunday.
Rasool
said the
situation
there
"is
completely
under
control,"
and IS
militants
have no
presence
inside
the
town.
Dorrian,
the
coalition
spokesman,
said
"Iraqi
forces
continue
to
attack
the
enemy
with
coalition
air
support"
in Rutba
and that
"operations
are
ongoing."
He says
coalition
airstrikes
have
destroyed
five
Islamic
State
vehicles
and
killed a
"significant"
number
of
militants
in the
town,
which is
hundreds
of
kilometers
(miles)
from
Mosul.
The
IS-run
Aamaq
news
agency
posted a
video
online
that it
said
showed
fighters
attacking
a
military
position
on
Sunday
north of
Rutba.
Over the
past
week,
Iraqi
and
Kurdish
forces
have
been
battling
IS in a
belt of
mostly
uninhabited
towns
and
villages
to the
north,
east and
south of
Mosul,
pushing
to
within 9
kilometers
(5 ½
miles)
of the
city.
On
Monday,
Iraqi
special
forces
began
shelling
IS
positions
before
dawn
near the
town of
Bartella,
said
Maj.
Gen.
Haider
al-Obeidi.
Bartella,
a
historically
Christian
town 15
kilometers
(9
miles)
to the
east of
Mosul,
was
retaken
by Iraqi
special
forces
last
week.
Shortly
afterward,
a convoy
of
special
forces
advanced
toward
the
village
of Tob
Zawa,
encountering
roadside
bombs
and
trading
heavy
fire
with the
militants.
Loudspeakers
on the
Humvees
blared
Iraqi
patriotic
music as
they
pushed
toward
the
village.
The
campaign
to
retake
Mosul
comes
after
months
of
planning
and
involves
more
than
25,000
Iraqi
troops,
Kurdish
forces,
Sunni
tribal
fighters
and
state-sanctioned
Shiite
militias.
It is
expected
to take
weeks,
if not
months,
to drive
IS out
of
Iraq's
second
largest
city,
which is
still
home to
more
than a
million
people.
The
militants
captured
Mosul in
the
summer
of 2014,
when
they
swept
across
much of
northern
and
western
Iraq. IS
has
suffered
a series
of
setbacks
over the
past
year,
and
Mosul is
its last
major
urban
bastion
in Iraq. |
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