Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

A11
WORLD NEWS Tuesday 4 July 2017

With fight for Mosul in final stage, militants strike back

By SUSANNAH GEORGE sein. He added that seven
ANDREA ROSA women strapped with ex-
Associated Press plosives approached the
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — With troops Monday, “but thank
the fight for Mosul in its fi- God, our units stopped
nal stage Monday, Islamic (them).”
State militants sent female Government troops ad-
suicide bombers hidden vancing through the Old
among fleeing civilians, City were using rougher
while Iraqi forces and tactics to clear the remain-
the U.S.-led coalition un- ing pockets of IS forces.
leashed punishing airstrikes The tempo of airstrikes was
and artillery fire that set so great Monday that co-
dozens of buildings ablaze. alition aircraft couldn’t
At least one Iraqi soldier keep up with the requests
was killed and five were for air support from Iraqi
wounded in the two sepa- ground forces. Instead,
rate suicide attacks, the they sought approval for
military said. On Sunday, a artillery strikes.
bomber in women’s cloth- Associated Press drone
ing killed 14 people at a footage showed the result:
camp for displaced resi- dozens of buildings burning
dents in Anbar province, a in the Old City.
provincial official said. No While shops have re- Civilians trying to flee get undressed to be checked for explosives after suicide bombers explod-
group claimed responsibil- opened and civilian traffic ed as Iraqi forces continue their advance against Islamic State militants in the Old City of Mosul,
ity for the attack. fills streets in retaken neigh- Iraq, Monday, July 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
“These tactics don’t sur- borhoods, thick black
prise me,” said Sgt. Ahmed smoke continued to rise less than a square kilome- in October and has pro- push to retake the Old City
Fadil, who patrolled Mo- just a few kilometers away ter (less than half a square ceeded slowly, even in mid-June.
sul’s Old City just 50 meters from IS-held territory on mile). though Iraqi political and Even though the militants
(yards) from the front. the bank of the Tigris River Islamic State militants swiftly military officials had vowed are squeezed into smaller
The militants “have no- that divides Iraq’s second- overran Mosul in 2014. The to declare victory by the and smaller territory, the
where to go. They’re largest city. The area con- U.S.-backed offensive to re- end of 2016. danger remains for units
trapped,” he said. trolled by the militants is take the city was launched Iraqi forces began their like Fadil’s. q
Monday’s two suicide
bombings against Iraqi sol-
diers followed three other China warns over rising tension with North Korea
such attacks by women
— some of them teenag-
ers — in the previous two By EDITH M. LEDERER tions and dialogue leading vided between the Amer- 50-year confrontation be-
days, said Sgt. Ali Abdullah Associated Press to denuclearization and ican-backed South and tween North Korea and the
Hussein. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — peace and stability on the communist North since the United States came closer
A soldier displayed the China’s U.N. ambassador Korean Peninsula. 1950-53 Korean War, have to the brink of nuclear war
school ID card retrieved warned Monday that fur- He reiterated at a news escalated as the North’s than ever before when
from the body of one of ther escalation of already conference that an im- young leader, Kim Jong Un, the U.S. and South Korea
the bombers, showing her high tensions with North Ko- portant initial proposal in has expanded a nuclear held what he called their
to be only 15. The photo rea risks getting out of con- the package is “suspen- arsenal and developed largest-ever “aggressive”
was of serious young wom- trol, “and the consequenc- sion for suspension,” which ballistic missiles that can military exercises in April
an in a white hijab and in- es would be disastrous.” would see North Korea halt carry nuclear warheads. and May. Kim warned the
dicated she had studied in Liu Jieyi expressed hope nuclear and missile testing His government says these United States and the rest
Bangladesh. that key nations will be and the United States and are needed to avert a U.S. of the world that his coun-
“Most of the people who “more forthcoming” and South Korea stop military invasion. try will keep building up its
blew themselves up today support China’s three-part exercises. Fears of a con- North Korea’s U.N. Ambas- nuclear arsenal regardless
are women,” said special package to de-escalate flict on the Korean Penin- sador Kim In Ryong said last of sanctions, pressure or
forces Lt. Col. Salam Hus- tensions — revive negotia- sula, which has been di- week that the more than military attack. q