In the first 10 days of the Mosul campaign, the Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga fighters backed by U.S.-led air forces and troops have made steady gains through often depopulated villages east and south of Mosul. The villagers said Islamic State fighters did not speak to them much and they avoided contact as much as possible. Ahmed Kamel, 31, said the number of Islamic State fighters inside Mosul - estimated by the Iraqi military at up to 6,000 - was small but their insurgent tactics would make it difficult for the 30,000-strong Iraqi force to rout them. Beyond Tub Zawa, only Bazwaia village and some military camps separate them from the city's eastern limits. “They tortured me,” he said of Islamic State, without explaining how.

Source: Sunday Times October 26, 2016 12:04 UTC