US envoy: All IS militants left in Mosul will die

BY Libyan Express Mar 13, 2017 - 13:11

Fire and smoke billow following explosion as Iraqi forces clash with Islamic State fighters in Mosul

BBC – Any Islamic State militants left in the Iraqi city of Mosul will die there, the US envoy to the multinational coalition battling the jihadist group says.

Brett McGurk said coalition and Iraqi government forces were “committed to not just defeating them in Mosul, but making sure these guys cannot escape”.

He issued the warning after the Iraqi army’s ninth division cut off the last road out of the west of the city.

Mosul is the last major urban IS stronghold in Iraq.

But Iraqi forces, backed by coalition air strikes and military advisers on the ground, have managed to retake large areas in the past five months.

They now control all of Mosul’s eastern side, and have driven IS militants from several western districts since mid-February.

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