VIDEO: Mosul woman stays home, husband buried across from house
A Mosul resident buried his brother across from his house as clashes continued between the Iraqi forces and Islamic State (IS) extremists in the neighborhood.
MOSUL, Iraq (Kurdistan24) – A Mosul resident buried his brother across from his house as clashes continued between the Iraqi forces and Islamic State (IS) extremists in the neighborhood.
After the liberation of the Swiss neighborhood in the center of Mosul from the extremist group, Jassim visited the grave of his 31-year-old brother named Omar whom he buried in a park last month.
Jassim told Kurdistan24 correspondent Soran Kamaran during the clashes between the forces and the insurgents in the neighborhood, an IS mortar shell targeted the area and killed Omar.
“There was no car, and the roads were closed,” Jassim said, claiming clashes were ongoing at that moment.
“Mosul people were burying dead bodies in their yards, but since we don’t have a yard, we buried him in the park across from his house,” he added.
Friends of Omar told Kurdistan24 they were full of fear while burying him because they were afraid the warplanes would target them, thinking they were IS members.
Omar was married and had two children. His wife has locked the door of their house and refused to come out.
Whenever she opens the door, she sees her husband’s grave and remembers the moment he was killed, Kamaran reported.
Mosul is full of tragic stories as thousands of civilians have been the victims of the IS war.
The insurgent group occupied Mosul in June 2014 and shortly expanded to other parts of Iraq.
Since then, the group has lost most of the territory it once controlled and continues to shrink.
On Oct. 17, 2016, Iraqi and Peshmerga forces launched the military operation to liberate the city from the militants. So far, half of the city has been retaken, and the operation is ongoing.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany