Islamic State fighters launched a counterattack against advancing US-backed Iraqi forces in western Mosul during an overnight storm, as the battle for control of the militants' last major urban stronghold in Iraq intensified. A senior Iraqi officer said Islamic State staged its attack on units from the elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) when the storm hampered air surveillance and on-the-ground visibility. An Iraqi special forces soldier searches a house during a battle with Islamic State militants in MosulDefeating Islamic State in Mosul would crush the Iraqi wing of the caliphate declared by the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in 2014, from Mosul's grand old Nuri mosque. He said they tried to flee on Wednesday but gave up when they came under Islamic State gunfire. The Iraqi military is taking women and children to camps and screening men to make sure they are not Islamic State fighters.

Source: Egypt Independent March 02, 2017 13:19 UTC