WATCH: Black oil covers some neighborhoods of Qayyarah, south Mosul

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Black oil and smoke has covered the town of Qayyarah and firefighters fail to completely extinguish the intensive fire that has been erupted after jihadists exploded some of the oil wells in the area.

The below footage of Kurdistan24 shows the situation inside Qayyarah after the area was liberated from Islamic State (IS):

On August 25, Iraqi security forces liberated the key Iraqi town of IS, Qayyarah. The town is located in the south of Mosul. According to the Iraqi military officers, IS detonated some of the oil wells inside the town before abandoning the area.

“IS has exploded 11 oil wells out of 63 in Qayyarah,” said an Iraqi army commander on Wednesday.

The fire still continues.  The smoke has covered the sky of the town, and black oil continues to cover some of the neighborhoods.

Kurdistan24 reporter in Qayyarah interviewed people and military officers inside the town:

“The fire has burnt over 60 houses and created such smoke that has darkened the color of houses and animal in the area,” a resident inside Qayyarah told the Kurdistan24 reporter. “IS started to damage the town from the first day they entered. They have wired Qayyarah Hospital with bombs.”

Qayyarah has been under the control of the jihadists group for two years since June 2014. Currently, the town is protected and guarded by the Iraqi security forces.

Editing by Ava Homa
(Additional reporting by Hoshmand Sadiq)