Daesh shoots down Iraq chopper over Mosul, killing two pilots

Two Iraqi army pilots were killed today when their helicopter was shot down over the city of Mosul by the Daesh militant group, according to a statement released by the military.

The helicopter was providing close air support to Federal Police forces battling Daesh fighters on the western side of Mosul, the statement said.

It is the first aircraft downed by Daesh over Mosul that has been acknowledged by the Iraqi authorities since the start of the US and Iran-backed offensive on the northern Iraqi city in October.

The Iraqi Federal Police forces are largely dominated by the Badr Organisation, a militant Shia jihadist organisation backed by regional Shia power Iran. Badr are also a key component of the state-sanctioned Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a paramilitary organisation accused of committing sectarian war crimes by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and others.

Read: No one cares when civilians are obliterated in Mosul

Mosul is Daesh’s last major urban stronghold in Iraq, though they also hold territory in Qaim in Anbar and Hawija near Mosul. The hardline group seized Mosul, Iraq’s second city, nearly three years ago, declaring from one of its oldest and most iconic mosques the establishment of a “caliphate” that also spans parts of Syria.

Daesh’s news agency Amaq said the helicopter crashed in the Al-Ghabat district, east of the Tigris river which runs through Mosul, bisecting the city into its eastern and western halves. The Iraqi military statement also located the crash on the eastern side, which was recaptured from the militants in early February, after over three months of intense fighting.

The insurgents are putting up a stiff and fierce resistance in the remaining district under their control in northwestern Mosul and the densely populated Old City. The militants are dug in surrounded by civilians, effectively using them as human shields and taking advantage of the narrow streets of the Old City that restrict the movements of the Iraqi armoured forces and limit the use of artillery and air power.

Nevertheless, US airstrikes launched in coordination with the Iraqi military led to the deaths of hundreds of civilians in a single air raid last month, with the Iraqi Civil Defence organisation later reporting that the raids killed 511 civilians.

Last month, sources showed that more than 4,000 civilians had been killed in fighting in western Mosul alone since the offensive in that half of the city was launched on 19 February. The number is almost certain to have increased significantly since then.