-
Posts
-
Dozens of civilians have been killed in Mosul while fleeing a district held by so-called Islamic State (IS) in the Iraqi city, reports say.</p>
A Reuters TV crew found the bodies of men, women and children lying in a street in the Zanjili district.It is not clear how exactly the civilians were killed. A US aid worker was quoted as saying that IS had been shooting people trying to escape.
The Iraqi army began a major offensive to take back Mosul in October.
It is being supported by air and ground strikes from a US-led coalition.
The Iraqi authorities have so far made no public comments on the latest reports.
- The battle for Mosul: The story so far
- Why Mosul’s Great Mosque of al-Nuri matters
- Islamic State group: The full story
The Reuters TV crew reported seeing dead bodies lying on Saturday in Zanjili – one of three frontline districts still in the hands of IS.
“Over the past two days ISIS (Islamic State) has been shooting people escaping this area,” Dave Eubank from the Free Burma Rangers relief association told the news agency.
He described seeing more than 50 bodies, but said they had managed to rescue a little girl and a man.
Some of those trying to escape have reportedly been injured in a coalition air strikes targeting IS fighters.
<figure class=”media-landscape has-caption full-width”>
Image copyright Reuters <figcaption class=”media-caption”>Image caption Over 580,000 civilians have fled Mosul </figcaption></figure>
Hundreds of other civilians – some wounded and some carrying apparently dead bodies wrapped in blankets – had managed to reach the government lines, Reuters reported.IS militants want to keep civilians around them – making it harder for the advancing government troops to pick out and target the gunmen.
Local people have been extremely vulnerable as the attacking government forces and their US-led coalition allies have closed in.
In March, the US military acknowledged that aircraft of the coalition fighting IS hit a location in west Mosul where dozens of civilians were reportedly killed.
<!–newsspec_16388–>
<figure id=”ns-responsive__figure” class=”media-landscape full-width lead”>
</figure>The northern Iraqi city of Mosul fell to IS in 2014 and is its last major urban stronghold in Iraq.
Pro-government forces took full control of the eastern half of Mosul in January and started an assault on the west the following month.
Fewer than a few hundred militants are now believed to be besieged in north-western districts, including the Old City, along with as many as 450,000 civilians.
More than 580,000 civilians have fled the city since the operation to recapture it began, according to the Iraqi government.
Most have taken refuge in nearby camps and reception centres. Others have gone to stay with relatives and friends.
There is also deep concern for the thousands of people who remain in western Mosul. Food supplies are very low and clean drinking water is in very short supply.
The UN said in late January that almost half of all the casualties in Mosul were civilians. At least 2,014 have been killed and 1,516 injured across Nineveh province since the start of October.
Iraq’s military does not release casualty figures, but a US general said at the end of March that 774 Iraqi security personnel had been killed and 4,600 wounded
its disgusting as is any form of terrorisum
-
This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by
AngelBabe.
FFS take ya post and start ya own thread if you want ppl to be aware of it this is for ppl to show respect to those that died nothing else, what is wrong with you
Infact, I did start my own thread.
You should be more careful where you type.
FFS take ya post and start ya own thread if you want ppl to be aware of it this is for ppl to show respect to those that died nothing else, what is wrong with you
Infact, I did start my own thread. You should be more careful where you type.
i am sorry for the post my mistake (at least i admit when i c*ck up)
so i have just seen and posted my thoughts RIP to all those who died and thoughts go out to the family’s
Showing respect by typing RIP sitting at home in a cosy arm chair- what will that accomplish exactly other than a selfish ” look at me, I care ” gesture which in many cases is done for the persons own ego, rather than expressing genuine empathy. This country needs to be pro active tackling extremism by dealing with all faith schools, mosques which are breeding grounds inciting hated for many regarding western life and challenging radical behaviour, not typing RIP all day lighting candles which serves no purpose for anyone. The genuine trend in this country is continual groundhog day, politicians repeatedly stating how terrible it all is , lit candles, poems and songs in tribute and some woman in islamic attire being wheeled out infront of the cameras saying it’s unrepresentative of Islam. Same old shite without any progress .. just empty platitudes / gestures leading nowhere instead of real progress being made approaching the Islamic community and weeding out these animals.
I think you’re also on the wrong thread Norfolk.
A very good post, Mime.
The innocents – men, women and children – are killed everywhere.
I agree with Norfolk that some measures can be taken against the faith schools, and maybe we should be a little less dependent on a feudal monarchy like Saudi Arabia, whihc is armed to the teeth by the UK government and finances a lot of these jihadi faith schools.
But a real debate about our foreign policy is also needed. How far have our wars over the past 16 years been responsible for the death and suffering inflicted on ordinary people, death and suffering whihc is returning to haunt us.
My guess is that more of these attacks are on the way.
I heard that about 23,000 Muslims sympathise in some way with the radicals. That is a small minority of Muslims, but it’s still big. It’s a perversion of Islam, but it appeals to a lot of the disaffected here.
Time to figure out why so many young Brits are becoming jihadists, rather than knee-jerk repression whihc may turn out martyrs and more recruits for attacking the innocent.
1 member liked this post.
I think you’re also on the wrong thread Norfolk.
Nope , responding to Angels post about ” we need to show respect ” which she has taken down. I think as I have said before we are all respectful over the dead , but time for action to prevent or at least minimise the risk of these events becoming a regular occurrence rather than the proverbial wailing wall of Jerusalem online and from public figures. Why are we still living in a country with 1750 mosques , many of them handing leaflets out promoting radicalism for eg? Why are terror suspects with links to extreme groups beyond any reasonable doubt not either deported or incarcerated .. or do the “human rights ” of these individuals prevail over the right to protect life? I’m sick of reading tiresome rhetoric from politicians dancing round these issues incase some is offended rather than actually dealing with points and actually delivering on measures to protect us all.
As a general pretext, people are generally fed up in the UK of having the rest of the world foisted on them – in London an extremely ill integrated city once you get out of Zones 1 & 2, white British is now the minority majority at 44% of the population.
I have property on the margins of London (the part the Guardian readers never see) . I’m the only native English speaker of maybe 100 people. I often hear Turkish, Eritrean, Nigerian kids telling me they’ll never be British and have no interest in being so. I often sit there wondering about what the tangible benefit of all this is to the ordinary pre 1997 British person, do I feel like an alien in my own home countrys capital city? Absolutely. Is it wrong that this concerns me?
Whether you agree that there is such a thing as British values or not, as someone who’s spent the majority of my adult life visiting both democratic and authoritarian, muslim, atheist, buddhist and hindu countries, I can absolutely assure you that there is such a thing as British values and now I’m back in the UK I can visibly see these being washed away by a defiant patchwork of other peoples histories and cultures – a great apolitical book to read on this is ‘This is London’ by Ben Judah, an eye opening account where he lives, Orwell style, with immigrants arriving in London and blows apart common conception that the second immigrants arrive in Britain they somehow become ‘British’ or have any desire to become British.
This is where being a liberal causes me problems, borders were not only built to keep people out, they were built to protect values. We’re told as liberals that we should celebrate ethnic diversity and push for a multicultural society – I ask you why? How would you feel if you went to, say Japan, and Toyko was 54% ‘other’, every high street had a Peri Peri chicken shop and a ‘Dubai Mart’, would you see that as a celebration of diversity and vibrancy still – or a dilution of culture and beliefs? No one’s telling Japan it needs an infusion of people from Pakistan or Turkey to make it ‘more diverse’ or ‘more cultural’, no one accuses the Japanese of being ‘small minded’ because they don’t welcome immigrants.
The more people we allow in from countries with crackpot ideologies, or that follow religions emanating from countries with crackpot ideologies which are having increasing influence overseas (see the rapid spread of Wahhabism in Indonesia), in simple and real terms, the greater the chance of attacks like this happening again and again. We’re currently living in a time where integration rates are at their lowest ever, we need to slow immigration down, not stop it, slow it down.
We’re sweeping the main issue under the rug – can Europe be the home to to everyone and anyone in the world that wants to come and live here – is this even desirable and who for? We’ve lost in the ability to argue our own case, we’re so guilty about about ourselves, self doubting, guilty about our past, and so forgiving of others and willing to champion their needs over ours, that we’ve completely lost sight of what makes our country so attractive to people overseas in the first place.
Finally, Andy Burnham is only out for one thing, votes. Not being able (or brave enough) to connect the actions of the son of a Libyan asylum seeker who was involved in militant islamist groups in North Africa to Islam, is borderline insanity. Stop virtue signalling and pull your head out the sand.
i didnt take it down
and you know nothing about what i do or don’t do in my community to tackle the issue so maybe you shouldn’t prejudge people
Get involved in this discussion! Log in or register now to have your say!