Daesh puts up fierce resistance near Mosul

Daesh fighters have been holding Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces at bay in several locations near Mosul today, as the operation to wrest control of Iraq’s second city from Daesh continues into its fifth day.

Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) claimed that they had managed to recapture three villages near Qayyarah, 30 kilometres south of Mosul. The villages were taken with the assistance of the US-led coalition and pro-government Sunni fighters and included Harara, Nana’a and Duwaizat.

Meanwhile, Daesh are continuing to hold off advancing Peshmerga fighters in the plains and villages around Bashiqa, 15 kilometres northeast of Mosul, inflicting heavy casualties on the Kurdish militias.

Daesh fighters have managed to infiltrate behind Peshmerga lines across several sectors, disrupting their lines of communications and resupply. They have also made effective use of snipers and suicide bombers, as well as heavily booby-trapping villages that they later withdraw from.

The ISF announced that it had taken control of Bartella, 12 kilometres east of Mosul, yesterday but Daesh dispute this and claim that the area is still heavily contested.

In comments to Al Jazeera, General Talib Shaghati of the Counter Terrorism Service said that his forces were in complete control of Bartella and would continue their advance to recapture more villages closer to Mosul.

Daesh’s Amaq news agency, however, said that it had launched three suicide car bombing attacks against Iraqi units in Bartella, stressing that the area was still being fought over.

Reports indicate that the ISF have not been able to make any further advances west of Bartella, suggesting that Daesh is still in the area and fighting fiercely to stall the Iraqi advance towards Mosul.

Infographic from Daesh of the fourth day of the offensive which was October 20 2016