The Pentagon said that jihadists use the people of Mosul as human shields.
Special forces of the Iraqi army involved in the operation to liberate Mosul, said that in the city there are from five to six thousand militants of the terrorist group “Islamic state” (LIH).
Writes about this in his Twitter channel Al Arabiya.
Earlier, citing data from the Iraqi intelligence reported that the government army and Kurdish militias in Mosul opposed to from three to nine thousand jihadists.
The UN does not exclude the possibility that Islamists may use the people of Mosul as human shields. Meanwhile, according to the BBC, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis has said that the militants hide behind civilians.
“Over the past day we have not seen any changes, and people never left the city and fled from it. We certainly know that they are being used as “human shields,” said Davis, adding that jihadists are holding civilians in the city “against their will”.
In addition, according to Reuters, the U.S. believes sufficient probable use by ISIS chemical weapons during the defense of Mosul.
“The United States began regularly to collect the remains of the shells to examine them for the presence of residues of chemical weapons, despite the use of mustard LIH reagent a month before the attack on Mosul,” – said the Agency interlocutor in the government of the United States.
As it turned out, October 5 the USA has already confirmed the presence of reagents of chemical weapons munitions on ISIS. “Given the previous misconduct of ISIS and its blatant disregard to international norms and standards, this case is not surprising,” said a us official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The United States assured that ISIL does not have sufficient resources to the production of a powerful chemical weapon with fatal effect.
Meanwhile, according to Anadolu Agency, the population of the environs of Mosul are leaving their homes due to the beginning of the operation to liberate the city.
The operation to liberate Mosul, the second largest city of Iraq, the stronghold and the unofficial capital of Iraqi territories controlled by ISIL – began on 17 October. The total number of ground units involved in the liberation of the city, more than 60 thousand people.
