In Mosul, Iraqi forces struggle to hang on to government compound days after retaking it
Iraqi forces are suffering fierce counterattacks in areas of Mosul recaptured from the Islamic State, soldiers say, and are barely holding the main government compound that they triumphantly declared cleared earlier this week. Police units have made a rapid push into the city over the past two weeks, reaching its main government buildings Tuesday. But […]Mustafa Salim and Loveday Morris write for The Washington Post:
Iraqi forces are suffering fierce counterattacks in areas of Mosul recaptured from the Islamic State, soldiers say, and are barely holding the main government compound that they triumphantly declared cleared earlier this week.
Police units have made a rapid push into the city over the past two weeks, reaching its main government buildings Tuesday. But forces were soon ambushed there in what one police officer described as a “well-planned trap,” while their grip on other neighborhoods they claim to control seemed tenuous during a recent trip to the city.
In the western neighborhood of Dindan, about half a mile from the government compound, forces with Iraq’s emergency response division, an elite unit of the police, came under frequent mortar fire two days later. Soldiers ducked behind walls to avoid snipers.
