Iraq News
Security

Mosul residents expose ISIL hiding places

By Khalid al-Taie

Mosul residents exchange greetings with security officers in a liberated part of Iraq's Ninawa province. [Photo courtesy of the Counter-Terrorism Service]

Mosul residents exchange greetings with security officers in a liberated part of Iraq's Ninawa province. [Photo courtesy of the Counter-Terrorism Service]

As Iraqi forces move deeper into Mosul, residents have been assisting them in their progress by providing information about "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) positions, bases and weapons caches, Iraqi officials told Diyaruna.

"The citizens are ready to support their security forces," said Shihab Hassan, a resident of al-Samah neighbourhood in east Mosul, which Iraqi forces recaptured from ISIL in early November.

"Our life was worth nothing under ISIL," he told Diyaruna. "Everything had a price. Only death was free."

"Now that we have been saved from this nightmare, co-operating with our troops and notifying them of everything, whether large or small, has become the sacred duty of all of us," he added.

Liberating forces are receiving dozens of these reports every day, officials said.

Residents in liberated parts of Mosul are helping the security forces with whatever information they are able to provide, said Ninawa provincial council member Husameddine al-Abbar.

"Co-operation between the citizens and the military forces is growing and there is harmony and a broad popular desire to support them and enhance their ability to defeat the terrorists," he told Diyaruna.

"People have become very disgruntled with ISIL elements for the violence, cruelty and persecution they have suffered at the hands of these terrorists, and the way they turned their lives into a living hell," he added.

Identifying ISIL elements

"Now that they have been freed from the terrorists, the local people seek revenge," al-Abbar said.

Army and police forces receive information every day that details the names and descriptions of ISIL elements, the places where they store their weapons and explosives, and the locations of booby-trapped houses, he said.

"This information has assisted in the capture of many ISIL elements and the exposure of many who have sneaked out with displaced families," he said.

The Counter-Terrorism Service recently managed to identify at least 20 ISIL elements who were hiding in the vicinity of Gogjali in east Mosul after gathering local residents to verify their personal information, he said.

"Before that, about 120 suspected terrorists were arrested in the area of al-Qayyarah," he added.

Al-Abbar urged the military forces to open more information collection and security inspection centres in liberated parts of Mosul to help them in their work.

Security forces now have a rich database on ISIL elements, Fallujah operations commander Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab al-Saadi told Diyaruna.

"We have received from local residents and from our other intelligence sources detailed, accurate information on ISIL elements, with names and pictures and also on their bases, combat abilities and weaponry," he said.

"We are working to leverage that information, which is instrumental in helping us decide the fighting with the terrorists in our favour," he added.

A key source of intelligence

"Citizens today constitute a key intelligence source for us and have facilitated the exposure of militants who have fled among displaced citizens, including both local and foreign fighters," al-Saadi said.

Security checks to verify the identity of local residents are taking place in co-ordination with the Interior and Defence ministry intelligence services in order to prevent ISIL from threatening security and stability in liberated areas, he added.

"The battle to liberate Mosul is achieving its designated goals and ISIL no longer has any ability to stop our forces' advance," he said.

"ISIL elements have taken to hiding and fleeing after they have collapsed on the battlefield," said Ninawa Operations Command spokesman Brig. Gen. Firas Bashar Sabri.

Security forces, in co-operation with local informants, have arrested several ISIL elements who had hidden themselves among displaced families wearing women's clothing or army uniforms, and shaving their beards, he said.

"In every area we liberate, we try to encourage citizens to report ISIL terrorists and their hideouts, and there is great response from the local population to provide our forces with the security information they need," Sabri said.

"Through this popular support we now are able to break the terrorists' back, no matter what methods of disguise they use," he said.

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