US artilleries shell IS near Mosul
A US military base near the town of Bashik shelled Islamic State (IS) positions in northern Mosul, a Peshmerga commander told Turkey’s state-owned media on Saturday.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – A US military base near the town of Bashik shelled Islamic State (IS) positions in northern Mosul, a Peshmerga commander told Turkey’s state-owned media on Saturday.
The jihadist group inside Mosul had begun to burn tires and oil to smoke up the sky and blur the vision of the US-led coalition warplanes. However, later on, a strong wind cleared the city skies.
“A heavy bombardment on IS positions started in the early morning,” Omar Hussein, a Peshmerga Commander, told Anadolu Agency.
“Peshmerga soldiers shouted that the bombardment directly targeted IS bases through the artilleries of the American military base, stationed near Bashik in northern Mosul,” he continued.
Hussein stated over 20 Peshmerga soldiers from the same front line confirmed the bombardment came directly from the US military base in the area.
He mentioned after the US artilleries’ assault on IS the insurgent group started to shell Peshmerga front lines via mortars from far away.
Peshmerga soldiers later said that two coalition warplanes arrived and fired at IS in Bashik and northern Mosul areas.
The Peshmerga Commander also stated that in the afternoon, US artilleries once again started to bombard IS and destroyed the jihadist base near Qopan road in Bashik.
Moreover, a Peshmerga Commander on the Bashik front, Hamid Afandi, confirmed the news.
According to the Kurdish forces, the American military base was recently stationed in the area, located on Bashik Mountain, as part of preparations for the Mosul military operation.
IS occupied Mosul in June 2014. Since then, the US coalition jets have repeatedly shelled the jihadists in Mosul ahead of the battle to retake the city.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany