VIDEO: Peshmerga discover 500-meter-long IS tunnel, east Mosul

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – On Sunday, Kurdish Peshmerga forces found an underground tunnel built by the Islamic State (IS) in the east of Mosul.

Recently, Peshmerga forces launched a successful offensive against the insurgents in western Erbil, liberating 10 villages from IS.

After the operation, Peshmerga discovered an IS tunnel in Tel Aswad village located near Khazir river, western Erbil.

Kurdistan24 reporter Hero Mawludi stated that according to Peshmerga sources, the tunnel is estimated to be about 500 meters long.

She said that Peshmerga soldiers have found bombs, including improvised explosive devices (IEDs), in the tunnel where IS was planning to detonate different places in the area.

One of the entrances of the tunnel was located in a school building mostly destroyed due to airstrikes by international coalition warplanes. However, the tunnel entrance was the only spot that remained intact.

Building tunnels is one of the war tactics that IS uses against Peshmerga forces and also to hide from coalition airstrikes.

Recently, Kurdistan24 published a video showing a tunnel in Sinjar (Shingal) dug under a road. IS wired the tunnel with IEDs meant to detonate when Peshmerga forces passed the road.

On Sunday, Mahmoud Kakayi, a Peshmerga commander in the engineering team for defusing IEDs, told Kurdistan24 that the team has defused 931 IEDs on the front lines planted by the terrorists.

Reporting by Hero Mawludi and Mewan Dolamari
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany