MOSUL, Iraq — Cloudy skies neutralized air power in Mosul on Thursday, Iraqi forces said, hampering their advance in the northern city, although they still faced deadly attacks by Islamic State militants that killed seven civilians and two soldiers.
MOSUL, Iraq — Cloudy skies neutralized air power in Mosul on Thursday, Iraqi forces said, hampering their advance in the northern city, although they still faced deadly attacks by Islamic State militants that killed seven civilians and two soldiers.
The civilians were killed and 35 others were wounded when militants fired mortar rounds on government-controlled areas of eastern Mosul, said army medic Bashir Jabar, who is in charge of a field clinic run by the special forces.
A soldier was killed and three were wounded when a car packed with explosives sped out from its hiding spot in a school complex in the eastern Tahrir neighborhood, ramming Iraqi troops’ position and exploding into a ball of fire, according to two officers who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
Another soldier was shot and killed by a sniper in the Bakir neighborhood.
Clouds over Iraq’s second-largest city obscured the visibility of drones and warplanes.
The troops used the pause to secure areas they had seized, set up checkpoints and sweep for explosives, said Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil.
The U.S. coalition providing air cover and reconnaissance for the advancing forces has been a key element in the month-old Mosul offensive, and fighting stalls when the air power cannot be used.
Thursday’s attacks came as civilians were fleeing or venturing into the streets to ask for food from troops and aid agencies, Jabar said. Two children were among the civilians killed, he said.