At least 39 killed in ISIS suicide attacks in Baghdad to divert attention from Fallujah

Islamic State has carried out a number of suicide bombings in Baghdad that have left 39 people dead. The deadliest of these was in a commercial area of a majority Shia neighborhood where at least 15 civilians were killed and 35 wounded.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 10 June 2016.

There was a second blast when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into an Iraqi army checkpoint north of Baghdad killing at least 12 people. The third attack was in the town of Taji 12 miles north of Baghdad. The dead in this were seven civilians and five troops with another 30 injured.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for these attacks but the information could not be independently verified. Baghdad has been the target of near-daily attacks in recent weeks by the Sunni militant group and these are believed to be attempts to distract the attention of the security forces from the fighting taking place on the front line.
Iraqi special forces have pushed into the IS-held city of Fallujah as part of a large-scale military operation launched last month. This city located about 40 miles west of Baghdad, is one of the last major IS strongholds in western Iraq. ISIS is still in control of territory in the country's north, including Mosul, which is Iraq's second largest city.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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ISIS using human shields to counter attacks by Iraq military

The battle for Fallujah is on and ISIS is making use of human shields to counter the Iraqi attacks. As per UNHCR, 'several hundred' innocent families lie trapped in the center of trying to retain hold of Islamic State's Iraqi hub of Fallujah. They have resorted to using human shields and the United Nations refugee agency has termed it as a 'human catastrophe'.
This has been reported in foxnews.com dated 31 May 2016.

Spokesman of UNHCR has informed that nearly 50,000 people remained trapped. It seems the ISIS are locking some families down inside the hospital building. They are instilling fear in their minds by saying that the army and militia are coming to kill them. ISIS fighters have even resorted to distributing some sweets among the kids in an effort to win them over - ISIS probably understand for the first time that the net is closing around them and that the end is close.
The trapped people are facing lack of food, medicine, safe drinking water and electricity in the city and these were pushing them to the brink of desperation. The ISIS militants are using tunnels and deploying snipers.


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Airstrikes in Fallujah kill 70 ISIS fighters including one of its leaders

Airstrikes crried out by US led coalition forces have killed more than 70 Islamic State fighters, including the one of the leaders of the group in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. As indicated by a spokesman of the American military based in Baghdad, IS fighting positions have been destroyed in 20 strikes over four days. According to him, the group's Fallujah commander had died in the aerial attacks on the city.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 27 May 2016.

Elimination of the leader will not cause the enemy to completely stop fighting, but it does create a problem as it causes the second-in-command to have to move up and disturbs the balance of power. The airstrikes are almost constant. One of the residents revealed that they had been living for weeks on rice, canned food and processed cheese and the stocks were fast depleting.
The authorities have already told tens of thousands of civilians to flee the city, which has been under IS control since 2014. Iraqi troops have been trying to drive IS militants from their stronghold west of Baghdad after launching the new offensive on Sunday night. US planes also dropped leaflets telling locals to avoid IS areas. The leaflets directed those who cannot leave to put white sheets on their roofs to mark their locations.


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Kurdish and Arab forces battle with ISIS near Raqqa

There is no sight of an end to the war against ISIS in Iraq and, Kurdish and Arab forces have begun a new assault near Raqqa which is the group's de-facto capital in Syria. This assault is against the backdrop of offensive of Iraqi troops against the jihadists in the city of Fallujah for a second day.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 24 May 2016.

These are believed to be the most serious ground operations against IS since the militants declared their self-styled 'caliphate' covering large areas of Syria and Iraq in 2014. The purpose of the assault in Raqqa province by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was to dislodge IS from the northern part and, simultaneously, secure other areas.
The SDF is having the backing of the US - it is a seven-month-old alliance of Syrian militias, including the Kurdish YPG and with the help of American-led coalition airstrikes, the YPG has successfully driven the jihadist organisation from large areas of northern Syria in the last year. However, the activists claim that in Raqqa, IS fighters make use of civilians as shields in Raqqa and, therefore, will be found in the same building. It seems inside a civilian building, there will be groups of ISIS fighters.
Moreover, they also use schools as places to stay. The reason is that schools have basements which protects them from the air strikes.


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