Slaughter of innocents continues in battle for Mosul
Story highlights
- Dozens of children and civilians are among victims the battle for Mosul produces every single day
- ISIS' desperate tactic as fighters advance to Mosul is to lob mortars indiscriminately toward government-controlled areas
Only
a day earlier his 18-month-old daughter Amira was there on the pavement
in the Zahraa neighborhood playing with relatives when a mortar round
landed nearby. Shrapnel tore through the air and the child's skull.
Amira was killed instantly. Her two cousins were seriously injured.
"Look
world, this is my daughter," Omar Ali cries. "What did she do wrong?
She's gone. She was just playing. She's gone from me and she's my only
child."
He holds a photograph of
Amira dressed in a black sweater with white hearts, her cherub face
looking up rather than at the camera.
She
is young and innocent like so many of the dozens of civilian victims
the street-to-street battle for Mosul produces every single day.
The fight to save lives
Two
kilometers away in a dusty lot behind an abandoned house turned clinic,
a team of Iraqi military medics fights to save the lives of injured
people who can get there.
Every day they see the terrible consequences of mortars fired into neighborhoods like Zahraa, where Amira lost her short life.
It's
a bloody, seemingly endless production line. The wounded are delivered,
patched up quickly and loaded into ambulances for transport to
hospitals.
"ISIS now has no course
of action but to target children and civilians, because they are the
easiest to attack," says Lt. Khaleel Amer, head of the triage center.
"The mortar rounds have left so many civilians wounded or dead."
The terror group's tactic of desperation as nearly
100,000 fighters advance toward Mosul is to simply lob mortars indiscriminately toward government-controlled areas.
One
family arrives in the back of a Humvee belonging to the Iraqi
Counter-Terror Force. Eight wounded men stumble out on their own or are
gently lifted by the soldiers.
One man with leg injuries plants a kiss of gratitude on the cheek of the uniformed medic carrying him in his arms.
Suddenly an unharmed man yells: "Everything is gone because of ISIS! God damn ISIS and those who brought them upon us!"
He
breaks down in tears, too distraught to give his name, and continues to
tell the story of how his 21-year-old son was killed.
"A
mortar fell just in front of the door. We came and he was just a piece
of meat. Four or five of my neighbors were standing with him. And they
are all dead."
What's left of his son is wrapped in a dark green blanket in the back of the Humvee.
Just
across the street, parents struggle to carry their belongings and
children wave white flags as they stream into a processing center for
refugees
They are among the 68,000
people the United Nations estimates have been displaced by the
fighting, just a fraction of Mosul's population.
"It
was a terrifying night," one mother says as she gathers her children.
"As soon as there was daylight we packed our belongings and left. Thank
God we are safe."
Inside liberated Mosul neighborhoods 02:51
18-month-old Amira Ali was killed Wednesday when an ISIS mortar round landed near her home in a liberated area of eastern Mosul.
Distraught father Omar Ali holds a picture of his daughter Amira who was killed by an ISIS mortar.It's a bloody, seemingly endless production line. The wounded are delivered, patched up quickly and loaded into ambulances for transport to hospitals."ISIS now has no course of action but to target children and civilians, because they are the easiest to attack," says Lt. Khaleel Amer, head of the triage center. "The mortar rounds have left so many civilians wounded or dead."
A wounded child is treated at a military triage center in Mosul before being transferred to a hospital nearby.The terror group's tactic of desperation as nearly 100,000 fighters advance toward Mosul is to simply lob mortars indiscriminately toward government-controlled areas.One family arrives in the back of a Humvee belonging to the Iraqi Counter-Terror Force. Eight wounded men stumble out on their own or are gently lifted by the soldiers.One man with leg injuries plants a kiss of gratitude on the cheek of the uniformed medic carrying him in his arms.Suddenly an unharmed man yells: "Everything is gone because of ISIS! God damn ISIS and those who brought them upon us!"He breaks down in tears, too distraught to give his name, and continues to tell the story of how his 21-year-old son was killed."A mortar fell just in front of the door. We came and he was just a piece of meat. Four or five of my neighbors were standing with him. And they are all dead."
The bodies of civilians are loaded onto a truck for transfer to burial sites.What's left of his son is wrapped in a dark green blanket in the back of the Humvee.Just across the street, parents struggle to carry their belongings and children wave white flags as they stream into a processing center for refugeesThey are among the 68,000 people the United Nations estimates have been displaced by the fighting, just a fraction of Mosul's population."It was a terrifying night," one mother says as she gathers her children. "As soon as there was daylight we packed our belongings and left. Thank God we are safe."
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