The battle to retake Mosul has begun. According to United States Defense Secretary Ash Carter, the operation is on the way and proceeding according to plan.
Iraqi intelligence sources said that ISIS rounded up 284 men and boys and used them as human shields against Iraqi-led coalition forces that are forcing the terror group's troops out of Mosul. The unconfirmed report said that the victims bore gunshot wounds and their bodies were dumped in a mass grave at a college of agriculture grounds in northern Mosul.
Meanwhile, Peshmerga General Command reported that its Kurdish forces have begun their attack against Mosul in two fronts out of Bashiga, in northeast Mosul. Kurdish officials complained that Sunni Arabs in Kirkuk are supporting ISIS in Kirkuk, where dozens were killed as soon as the offensive started.
Coalition forces attacked Qaraqosh or al-Hamdaniya and Iraqi army troopers, joining up with a Christian paramilitary group, entered the town and decimated 200 ISIS fighters there. Kurdish troops and Iraqi forces also succeeded in isolating vital parts of Qaraqosh, installing Iraqi flags atop the mayor's building and the main hospital building which they liberated.
Iraqi forces have also penetrated Kirkuk where they killed 60 ISIS fighters. Gov. Najmaldin Karim plans to put up check points and restore order in the city.
The next area target of the Iraqi forces is the town of Tal Kayf and the Joint Operations Command is pursuing the plan to recapture the Chaldean town which is about six miles from Mosul. With air support from U.S. and coalition planes, Iraqi are working to break through ISIS defenses, which as expected, are becoming stronger as the coalition forces near the center of Mosul.
The U.N. Refugee Center plans to build 11 refugee campsites, 5 of which are already operational. Humanitarian aid is expected to commence as soon as hostilities wane.
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