MOSUL, Iraq -- Iraq's special forces worked Sunday to clear neighborhoods on the eastern edge of Islamic State-held Mosul as bombings launched by the extremist group elsewhere in the country killed at least 20 people.

The Mosul offensive has slowed in recent days as Iraqi forces have pushed into more densely populated areas, where they cannot rely as much on airstrikes and shelling because of the risk posed to civilians, who have been told to stay in their homes.

"There are a lot of civilians and we are trying to protect them," said Lt. Col. Muhanad al-Timimi. "This is one of the hardest battles that we've faced till now."

Some civilians are fleeing the combat zone, while Islamic State militants are holding others back for use as human shields, making it harder for Iraqi commanders on the ground to get approval for requested U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. Iraq's special forces are some of the country's best troops, but they still largely rely on air support to clear terrain.

Iraqi forces first entered the eastern edge of the city Tuesday. On Friday, forces began pushing into Mosul proper, but so far have advanced just over a mile into the city.

Still, the White House envoy to the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition, Brett McGurk, told reporters in Jordan on Sunday that the offensive is "ahead of schedule."

Iraqi forces stand to receive a boost with Sunday's launch of an offensive against the Islamic State-held city of Raqqa in northern Syria, the self-declared capital of the extremist group's self-styled caliphate. That operation, launched by U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian forces, could force the extremists to split their forces to defend the two largest cities still under their control.

On the southern front of the Mosul battle, Iraqi forces are still some 12 miles from the city center. The fighting was centered on the town of Hamam al-Alil, where Associated Press journalists could hear gunfire and saw attack helicopters firing on Islamic State positions.

Kurdish peshmerga fighters launched mortar rounds and fired heavy artillery at the Islamic State-held town of Bashiqa, about 8 miles northeast of Mosul. The town, which is believed to be largely empty except for Islamic State militants, has been encircled by Kurdish forces.

The extremists captured Mosul and surrounding areas in 2014, and have had plenty of time to dig trenches, block roads and mine approaches to the city.

"Daesh dug trenches that they filled with water, and they have a lot of suicide attackers and car bombs," said al-Timimi, using the Arabic acronym for the militant group.

The extremists, meanwhile, struck far from the front lines with a series of bombings.

The deadliest attack took place in the city of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, which is home to a major Shiite shrine. Provincial spokesman Ali al-Hamdani said the attacker set off a bomb-packed ambulance in a parking lot near Shiite pilgrims before detonating his explosives vest.

The attack killed 11 people, including at least four Iranians, and wounded up to 100 other people.

Another suicide attacker rammed an explosives-laden car into a busy checkpoint outside the city of Tikrit, killing at least nine people. Al-Hamdani said five female students, a woman and three policemen were killed in that attack, while 25 others were wounded.

The Islamic State had also captured Tikrit during its lightning blitz across Iraq in the summer of 2014. Iraqi forces drove the militants from the city, around 80 miles north of Baghdad, in April 2015.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Ghasemi, condemned the two attacks, which he said had killed 21 people, including 10 Iranian pilgrims, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting tolls, which are common in the chaotic aftermath of attacks.

In an online statement, the Islamic State claimed all three bombings and said the ambulance bomb was set off by a second suicide attacker. The AP could not verify the authenticity of the statement, which was posted on a militant website commonly used by the extremists.

The Hassan Sham camp, about 20 miles east of Mosul, opened Friday to help handle the exodus of civilians after government troops battled their way into the city last week.

More than 8,000 people had fled by Saturday, bringing the total number displaced since the offensive began to about 30,000, according to United Nations estimates.

They arrived in dump trucks and on foot, carrying their belongings in large bags, wrapped in bedding and tarps.

Relatives were waiting outside the camp's chain-link fence.

Waeed Ahmed Hussein had not seen his parents and four brothers in almost three years, since the extremists seized the Iraqi city and their nearby village of Gogjali, and he fled.

When Hussein, 32, spotted his father in the camp's screening area, he rushed over to kiss the elderly man's hands through the fence.

"Uncle, uncle!" cried his 6-year-old nephew, Idris, sprinting out of the gate to hug him.

Humanitarian groups had warned before the offensive began nearly three weeks ago that as many as a million people could be displaced, and that camps were unprepared because of lack of funding.

In addition to Hassan Sham, the U.N. refugee agency is building 10 more camps, but only half are ready to receive people.

Hassan Sham now houses about 4,000 people and can accommodate 7,000 more. But with the volume of families streaming in, officials expect they will soon have to build another camp nearby.

More than 200 families arrived Saturday and more than 600 on Friday, said Sadiq Mohammed, deputy camp manager. The Khazir camp up the road was already full of those displaced from eastern villages.

For civilians caught in the fighting, the route to safety is a perilous one.

Hussein's older brother, Saad Ahmed Hussein, said that when the family fled their village east of Mosul on Saturday morning, they were targeted by Islamic State snipers and mortar fire.

Iraqi forces had freed the village, but militants sneaked back in using tunnels near the graveyard, he said.

He tried to persuade his eldest brother to leave with the rest of the family, but he has several small children, including a toddler. "He said, 'I prefer to die here,'" Saad Ahmed Hussein said.

New arrivals at the camp complained about a lack of food, water, bedding and latrines. They worried about tents filling up, and where their children would go to school.

But many of the children seemed oblivious to their parents' struggles, exploring the tents, playing ball with stones and hide-and-seek in the latrines.

As Idris said, "It's better than dying."

Information for this article was contributed by Susannah George, Sinan Salaheddin, Murtada Faraj, Cristiana Mesquita, Balint Szlanko, Maamoun Youssef and staff members of The Associated Press; and by Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Los Angeles Times.</s>Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Members of the Iraqi federal police wave the country's flag as they celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on July 9, 2017. Iraq declared victory against ISIS forces in Mosul after a grueling monthslong campaign. The battle to reclaim Mosul, the last major ISIS stronghold in Iraq, has been underway since fall 2016. Hide Caption 1 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city This injured girl was found by Iraqi forces as they advanced against ISIS militants in the Old City of Mosul on Monday, July 3. She was carried away for medical assistance. Hide Caption 2 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A suspected ISIS fighter is held in a basement while Iraqi forces continue to push for control of the Old City of Mosul on Monday, July 3. Hide Caption 3 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi Special Forces soldier exchanges fire with ISIS militants in the Old City on Friday, June 30. Hide Caption 4 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A bomb explodes near the al-Nuri mosque complex on Thursday, June 29. Iraq's military has seized the remains of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri. Iraq and the United States have accused ISIS of blowing up the historic mosque. Hide Caption 5 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Members of the Iraqi Federal Police hold a position as US-led coalition forces advance through the Old City on Wednesday, June 28. Hide Caption 6 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city The remnants of Mosul's ancient leaning minaret are seen in the Old City on Sunday, June 25. ISIS' claim that US warplanes were responsible for the destruction of the minaret is "1,000% false," US officials told CNN. Hide Caption 7 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Two boys comfort each other after their home collapsed during fighting between Iraqi forces and militants in Mosul on Saturday, June 24. The boys, who are cousins, said some of their relatives were still under the rubble. Hide Caption 8 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi soldier helps transport a girl as residents flee their homes west of Mosul on Friday, May 26. Hide Caption 9 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Displaced Iraqis make their way through rubble after evacuating their homes in a neighborhood of west Mosul on Wednesday, May 17. Hide Caption 10 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi man tries to extinguish a burning car during fighting in Mosul's western Rifai neighborhood on Tuesday, May 16. Hide Caption 11 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A member of the Iraqi counterterrorism service secures a building as troops push toward Mosul's Al-Oraibi western district on Sunday, May 14. Hide Caption 12 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A smoke cloud rises on the front line as the Iraqi Emergency Response Division advances in west Mosul on Saturday, May 6. Hide Caption 13 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A wounded man is transported in western Mosul on Friday, April 21. Hide Caption 14 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi federal policeman smokes during a break from battle on Wednesday, April 12. Hide Caption 15 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A member of Iraq's security forces stands guard in eastern Mosul as smoke rises from the ISIS-controlled western section of the city on Friday, April 7. Hide Caption 16 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqis visit a bath house on the southern outskirts of Mosul on Wednesday, April 5. Hide Caption 17 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Flames billow from an explosion in Mosul during a clash between Iraqi forces and ISIS fighters on Sunday, March 5. Hide Caption 18 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Families are forced to evacuate as Iraqi forces advance in western Mosul on Thursday, March 2. The number of internally displaced people has surged as the offensive effort has intensified. Hide Caption 19 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Mosul residents cross a damaged bridge in the al-Sukkar neighborhood on Saturday, January 21. Hide Caption 20 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city French President Francois Hollande and French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, right, view territory held by ISIS during a visit to a military outpost near Mosul on Monday, January 2. Hide Caption 21 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A young girl takes part in a Christmas Day Mass at a church in the predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh. The area's churches were heavily damaged by ISIS militants before the town was freed by Iraqi forces during the Mosul offensive. Hide Caption 22 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi Shiite fighters ride through a desert area near the village of Al-Boutha al-Sharqiyah, west of Mosul, on Friday, December 2. Hide Caption 23 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Internally displaced Iraqis who fled the fighting in Mosul watch as a civilian drone films them at the al-Khazir camp on Thursday, December 1. Hide Caption 24 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi soldier searches a home for ISIS militants after Iraqi forces retook the village of Al-Qasr on Wednesday, November 30. Hide Caption 25 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi soldiers transport a comrade who was injured during a battle near the village of Haj Ali on Tuesday, November 29. Hide Caption 26 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A man mourns during the funeral of four Iraqi paramilitary fighters who were killed in battles in the town of Tal Afar. Hide Caption 27 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Displaced civilians return to the village of Tall Abtah on Friday, November 25, after Iraqi forces retook the village from ISIS. Hide Caption 28 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi civilians sit on the ground in Mosul on November 24. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged ISIS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. Hide Caption 29 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An injured baby receives treatment at a field hospital in Mosul on November 15. Hide Caption 30 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A woman cries Sunday, November 13, after seeing the St. Addai church that was damaged by ISIS fighters during their occupation of the Keramlis village. Hide Caption 31 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi special forces soldier prays next to a Humvee before troops pushed toward Mosul's Karkukli neighborhood on November 13. Hide Caption 32 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter holds part of a defused bomb planted by ISIS militants in Bashiqa, Iraq, on Friday, November 11. Hide Caption 33 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A member of Iraq's special forces guards two suspected ISIS fighters found hiding in a house in Mosul on November 11. Hide Caption 34 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi woman displaced by war holds her cat near a checkpoint in the Iraqi village of Shaqouli, east of Mosul, on November 10. Hide Caption 35 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi troops watch a broadcast of Donald Trump's acceptance speech in a house in Arbid, on the outskirts of Mosul, on Wednesday, November 9. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated Trump on his win and said he hoped for continued support in the war on ISIS. Hide Caption 36 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city US Marines install equipment at a coalition base in Qayyara on November 9. Hide Caption 37 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi forces member investigates a mass grave that was discovered after coalition forces recaptured the area of Hamam al-Alil on Monday, November 7. Hide Caption 38 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi children witness a man being interrogated by a member of the Iraqi army at a base next to the Al-Intissar neighborhood of Mosul on November 7. Hide Caption 39 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A civilian man who fled the fighting trims his beard after reaching an Iraqi army position in Mosul on November 7. Hide Caption 40 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Children play in debris created by an airstrike in Qayyara on Sunday, November 6. Hide Caption 41 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan sing as they hold a position near Bashiqa on November 6. Hide Caption 42 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A baby is passed through a fence back to his mother at a refugee camp in the Khazir region on Saturday, November 5. Hide Caption 43 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city People line up to receive food at a refugee camp in the Khazir region on November 5. Thousands are taking refuge in camps set up for internally displaced people. Hide Caption 44 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi soldiers pass near a bridge destroyed in an airstrike in Qayyara on November 5. Hide Caption 45 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi soldiers patrol an alley on the outskirts of Mosul on Friday, November 4. Hide Caption 46 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A suspected member of ISIS is detained at a checkpoint near Bartella, Iraq, on November 4. Hide Caption 47 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi families pack into a truck to be moved to camps on Thursday, November 3. Hide Caption 48 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi special forces soldier searches for the location of an ISIS sniper in Gogjali on November 1. Hide Caption 49 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A man fleeing the village of Bazwaya carries a white flag as he arrives at a checkpoint on November 1. Hide Caption 50 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi soldier receives treatment after being injured during clashes with ISIS fighters near Bazwaya on October 31. Hide Caption 51 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi soldier navigates through a shattered windshield as coalition forces advance on Bazwaya on October 31. Hide Caption 52 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Archbishop Yohanna Petros Mouche, center, performs Mass in the liberated town of Qaraqosh on Sunday, October 30. Hide Caption 53 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Children play in a camp for internally displaced people near Kirkuk, Iraq, on October 30. More than 600 families from Tel Afar, a town west of Mosul, have been living in the camp since ISIS took control of the area in 2014. Hide Caption 54 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Displaced families are seen on the road near Qayyara on Saturday, October 29. Hide Caption 55 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city U.S. military personnel take cover in a bunker after a mortar alarm was sounded at a coalition air base in Qayyara on Friday, October 28. Hide Caption 56 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Women and children grieve over the grave of a family member at a Qayyara cemetery damaged by ISIS on October 27. Hide Caption 57 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Residents of Qayyara wait for distribution of food and water rations on October 26. Local water sources have been contaminated by the burning oil and sulfur. Hide Caption 58 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraq's counterterrorism forces advance toward ISIS positions in Tob Zawa on October 25. Hide Caption 59 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Soldiers give first aid to an injured boy in Tob Zawa on October 25. Hide Caption 60 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Kurdish Peshmerga forces take positions as they start to move toward the Imam Reza and Tizxirab villages of the Bashiqa district on Sunday, October 23. Hide Caption 61 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi forces distribute fruit in the village of al-Khuwayn, south of Mosul, after recapturing it from ISIS on October 23. Hide Caption 62 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Kurdish security forces detain a suspected member of ISIS in the eastern suburbs of Kirkuk on Saturday, October 22. Hide Caption 63 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city An Iraqi forces member helps a man push a car as they arrive at a refugee camp in Qayyara on October 22. Hide Caption 64 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Spent bullet cartridges litter the street around the Jihad Hotel, where ISIS militants battled Iraqi security forces in Kirkuk on Friday, October 21. Hide Caption 65 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Gen. Abdel Ghani al-Asadi, who leads Iraq's counterterrorism forces, sits in Bartella on October 21 after the town was reclaimed. Hide Caption 66 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Peshmerga fighters look over a village during an assault near Bashiqa on Thursday, October 20. Hide Caption 67 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Iraqi forces head toward the front lines near Qayyara on Tuesday, October 18. Hide Caption 68 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city A Peshmerga fighter peers up from an underground tunnel in the liberated town of Badana on October 18. ISIS fighters have built tunnels below residential streets to escape from airstrikes. Hide Caption 69 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Kurdish security forces take up a position near ISIS-controlled villages on Monday, October 17. Hide Caption 70 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Smoke rises from a suicide car bomb attack carried out by ISIS in the village of Bedene on October 17. Hide Caption 71 of 73

Photos: Mosul: Iraqi-led forces push into key city Members of the Iraqi coalition gather around a fire at Zardak mountain ahead of the offensive. Hide Caption 72 of 73</s>BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s special forces worked Sunday to clear neighborhoods on the eastern edge of Islamic State-held Mosul as bombings launched by the extremist group elsewhere in the country killed at least 20 people.

Here is a look at the main developments on the 20th day of the Mosul Offensive:

The Mosul offensive has slowed in recent days as Iraqi forces have pushed into more densely populated areas, where they cannot rely as much on airstrikes and shelling because of the risk posed to civilians, who have been told to stay in their homes.

Some civilians are fleeing the combat zone, while IS militants are holding others back for use as human shields, making it harder for Iraqi commanders on the ground to get approval for requested U.S.-led coalition air strikes. Iraq’s special forces are some of the country’s best troops, but they still largely rely on air support to clear terrain.

On the southern front, Iraqi forces are still some 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the city center, battling for the town of Hamam al-Alil. Kurdish peshmerga fighters launched mortar rounds and fired heavy artillery at the IS-held town of Bashiqa, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) northeast of Mosul.

Iraqi forces could receive a much-needed boost by the opening of a new front against IS in Syria, where a U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led force says it will march on Raqqa, the extremist group’s self-styled capital.

The offensives against Mosul and Raqqa, the two largest cities still under IS control, would proceed in tandem, likely forcing the extremists to split their forces between two crucial battles. But the operation in Syria could escalate tensions with Turkey, which views the Syrian Kurdish forces leading it as an extension of the insurgency in its southeast.

The extremists meanwhile struck far from the front lines with a series of bombings.

The deadliest attack took place in the city of Samarra, 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of Baghdad, which is home to a major Shiite shrine. Provincial spokesman Ali al-Hamdani said the attacker set off a bomb-packed ambulance in a parking lot near Shiite pilgrims before detonating his explosives vest.

The attack killed 11 people, including at least four Iranians, and wounded up to 100 other people. Another suicide attacker rammed an explosives-laden car into a busy checkpoint outside the city of Tikrit, killing at least nine people. IS claimed all three bombings and said the ambulance bomb was set off by a second suicide attacker.

In the capital, Baghdad, a series of smaller bombings killed at least 10 people and wounded 21 others, according to police and medical officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. No one immediately claimed the attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of IS.</s>BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi Kurdish fighters exchanged heavy fire with militants early on Monday as they advanced from two directions into a town held by the Islamic State group east of the city of Mosul. Meanwhile, troops advancing south of Mosul discovered a mass grave with some 100 decapitated bodies.

Here is a look at the main developments on the 21st day of the Mosul Offensive:

The offensive to reclaim the town of Bashiqa is part of the broader push to drive IS out of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the militants’ last major urban stronghold in the country.

Combat began at dawn with a Kurdish barrage of heavy artillery, Katyusha rockets and mortar rounds slamming into IS positions, providing cover for the advance of armored columns.

Smoke rose from town throughout the day, with large explosions sending dark clouds into the sky.

On Mosul’s southern front, Iraqi soldiers were advancing into Hamam al-Alil, some 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the city center. Private broadcaster Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen showed images of soldiers hoisting the Iraqi flag on a rooftop in the town.

Army spokesman Brig. Firas Bashar said the city had been retaken, although fighting still continued and other reports said that IS fighters remained in several areas.

As Iraqi forces struggle to solidify gains in neighborhoods in eastern Mosul, more and more civilians are fleeing the city. At a checkpoint on the edge of Gogjali, Mosul’s easternmost neighborhood, civilians fleeing Mosul were screened to catch any IS fighters who may be hiding among them. Since Iraqi forces first pushed into the eastern edge of the city last Tuesday, dozens of people have been arrested.

At the checkpoint, men were waiting for their names to be screened by a pair of informants from the area and multiple Iraqi government databases. Women and children waited further back from the road in the shade of an abandoned building.

Meanwhile, the U.N. health agency said it has set up 82 “rapid response teams” to manage risks of epidemics, chemical exposure and other health worries among people fleeing Mosul.

The World Health Organization says that water and sanitation in camps for displaced people could “face disruptions” as the numbers of those who fled Mosul is growing, raising the risk of food- and water-borne diseases such as cholera. It also says that additional concerns include children who reportedly haven’t been immunized since the radical Islamic State group seized control of Mosul in June 2014.</s>The Iraqi military says it has found some 100 decapitated bodies in a mass grave south of the Islamic State-held city of Mosul.

The spokesman for the Joint Military Command, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, says the bodies were discovered Monday near the agricultural college in the town of Hamam al-Alil. Most were reduced to skeletons.

A forensics team from Baghdad will investigate the site on Tuesday. Rasool says the state of the bodies made it difficult to tell by their clothes if they were soldiers or civilians.

IS has carried out several massacres since it swept into northern and central Iraq in the summer of 2014, often documenting them with photos and videos circulated online.

Iraqi forces launched a massive operation last month to drive the extremists from Mosul and surrounding areas.</s>NEAR BASHIQA, Iraq — Iraqi Kurdish fighters exchanged heavy fire with militants on Monday as they entered a town held by the Islamic State group east of Mosul, while troops advancing south of the city discovered a mass grave containing some 100 decapitated bodies.

The offensive to reclaim the town of Bashiqa is part of the broader push to drive IS out of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, relieving those living under its occupation from the type of brutality, such as mass killings, that the group has committed.

IS militants have carried out a series of massacres since seizing large swaths of southern and central Iraq in the summer of 2014, often documenting them with photos and videos circulated online. On Monday, Iraqi soldiers advancing into the town of Hamam al-Alil, south of Mosul, discovered a pit containing dozens of decapitated skeletal remains, the military's Joint Military Command said.

The offensive to retake Bashiqa began at dawn with a Kurdish barrage of heavy artillery, Katyusha rockets and mortar rounds slamming into IS positions, providing cover for the advance of armored columns.

Smoke rose from the town throughout the day, with large explosions sending dark clouds into the sky.

"We have the coordinates of their bases and tunnels, and we are targeting them from here in order to weaken them so that our forces can reach their targets more easily," said Iraqi Kurdish commander Brig. Gen. Iskander Khalil Gardi.

Bashiqa, which is believed to be largely deserted except for dozens of IS fighters, is located about 13 kilometers (eight miles) northeast of Mosul's outskirts and about 20 kilometers (13 miles) from the city center. Iraqi government and Kurdish forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and joined by government-sanctioned militias, are fighting to drive IS out of those surrounding areas and open additional fronts to attack Mosul itself.

Bashiqa has been surrounded by Kurdish forces, known as peshmerga, for weeks but Monday's push appeared to be the most serious yet to drive IS from the town.

Kurdish forces launched mortar rounds and fired heavy artillery into the town Sunday in advance of the offensive. More artillery and air strikes hit the town early Monday as the Kurdish forces' advance got underway.

On Mosul's southern front, meanwhile, Iraqi soldiers advancing into Hamam al-Alil, some 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the city center, discovered a mass grave late Monday containing some 100 decapitated bodies near the town's agricultural college. Most were reduced to skeletons, said Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, the spokesman for the Joint Military Command.

He said a forensics team from Baghdad would investigate the site on Tuesday.

Earlier Monday, army spokesman Brig. Firas Bashar said Iraqi forces had retaken the town and images broadcast by the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen network showed soldiers hoisting the Iraqi flag on a rooftop in the town. Other reports, however, said fighting still continued and that IS fighters remained in several areas.

Iraqi special forces entered Mosul last week and have made some progress in gaining a foothold on the city's eastern edges. But progress inside the city has been slowed as troops push into more densely populated areas.

The troops are suffering casualties as the militants target them with suicide car bombs and booby traps in close-quarters fighting along the city's narrow streets. IS still holds territory to the north, south and west of Mosul, its last major urban stronghold in Iraq.

In neighboring Syria, meanwhile, Kurdish-led Syrian fighters pushed ahead Monday with an offensive aimed at isolating and encircling the Islamic State group's de facto capital of Raqqa, making small advances in villages to the north of the city. U.S.-led coalition warplanes provided air cover for the long-awaited campaign to liberate the city, which began Sunday.

Both battles are likely to be long and costly as the extremists are expected to fight until the end to try to hold onto their biggest urban strongholds in both countries.

Civilians were fleeing Mosul in growing numbers as Iraqi forces struggle to solidify gains in neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city, said special forces Lt. Col. Hussein Aziz.

"Daesh is trying to draw a line," Aziz said of the heavy fighting in Mosul's easternmost neighborhoods, referring to the militant group by its Arabic acronym. "They have a lot of fighters there and they forced families to stay."

Aziz was manning a checkpoint on the edge of Gogjali, Mosul's easternmost neighborhood, where civilians fleeing Mosul are screened to catch any IS fighters who may be hiding among them. Since Iraqi forces first pushed into the eastern edge of the city last Tuesday, Aziz's team has arrested dozens of people.

At the checkpoint, men were waiting for their names to be screened by a pair of informants from the area and multiple Iraqi government databases. Women and children waited further back in the shade of an abandoned building.

Gayda, a 42-year-old Mosul resident, said she fled the Samah neighborhood in the city's east just hours earlier, after a car bomb exploded next to her home. She gave only her first name, fearing for her safety and that of family members still under IS rule in other parts of Mosul.

When they reached the checkpoint, the woman's husband and son were separated from her and her daughter, and held for questioning a few yards (meters) away.

"How can he be from Daesh, he's so young," she said of her 18-year-old son. "We are good people, we don't have any enemies."

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said it has set up 82 "rapid response teams" to manage risks of epidemics, chemical exposure and other health worries among people fleeing Mosul.

The U.N. agency said water and sanitation in camps for the displaced could face disruptions as the number of people fleeing the city grows, raising the risk of food- and water-borne diseases such as cholera. It also said that additional concerns include children who reportedly haven't been immunized since the radical Islamic State group seized control of Mosul in June 2014.

Associated Press writers Susannah George in Bazwaya, Iraq, Adam Schreck in Irbil, Iraq, and Karin Laub in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.</s>NEAR BASHIQA, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi Kurdish fighters exchanged heavy fire with militants early on Monday as they advanced from two directions into a town held by the Islamic State group east of the city of Mosul.

The offensive to reclaim the town of Bashiqa is part of the broader push to drive IS out of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the militants' last major urban stronghold in the country.

Combat began at dawn with a Kurdish barrage of heavy artillery, Katyusha rockets and mortar rounds slamming into IS positions, providing cover for the advance of armored columns.

Smoke rose from town throughout the day, with large explosions sending dark clouds into the sky.

"We have the coordinates of their bases and tunnels, and we are targeting them from here in order to weaken them so that our forces can reach their targets more easily," said Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga commander Brig. Gen. Iskander Khalil Gardi.

Bashiqa, which is believed to be largely deserted except for dozens of IS fighters, is located about 13 kilometers (8 miles) northeast of the edge of Mosul and about 20 kilometers (13 miles) from the city center.

Iraqi government and Kurdish forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and joined by government-sanctioned militias, are fighting to drive IS out of those surrounding areas and open additional fronts to attack Mosul itself.

Bashiqa has been surrounded by Kurdish forces, known as peshmerga, for weeks but Monday's push appears to be the most serious yet to drive IS from the town.

Kurdish forces launched mortar rounds and fired heavy artillery into the town on Sunday in advance of the offensive. More artillery and air strikes hit the town early Monday as the Kurdish forces' advance got underway.

On Mosul's southern front, Iraqi soldiers were advancing into Hamam al-Alil, some 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the city center. Private broadcaster Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen showed images of soldiers hoisting the Iraqi flag on a rooftop in the town.

Army spokesman Brig. Firas Bashar said the city had been retaken, although fighting still continued and other reports said that IS fighters remained in several areas.

Iraqi special forces entered Mosul last week and have made some progress in gaining a foothold on the city's eastern edges. But progress inside the city has been slowed as troops push into more densely populated areas.

The troops are suffering casualties as the militants have bogged them down with suicide car bombs, booby traps and close-quarters fighting along narrow streets. IS still holds territory to the north, south and west of Mosul.

As Iraqi forces struggle to solidify gains in neighborhoods in eastern Mosul, more and more civilians are fleeing the city, according to special forces Lt. Col. Hussein Aziz.

"Daesh is trying to draw a line," Aziz said of the heavy fighting in Mosul's easternmost neighborhoods, referring to IS by its Arabic acronym. "They have a lot of fighters there and they forced families to stay."

Aziz mans a small checkpoint on the edge of Gogjali, Mosul's easternmost neighborhood, where civilians fleeing Mosul are screened to catch any IS fighters who may be hiding among them. Since Iraqi forces first pushed into the eastern edge of the city last Tuesday, Aziz's team has arrested dozens of people.

At the checkpoint, men were waiting for their names to be screened by a pair of informants from the area and multiple Iraqi government databases. Women and children waited further back from the road in the shade of an abandoned building.

Gayda, a 42-year-old woman from Mosul, said she fled the Samah neighborhood in the city's east just hours earlier, after a car bomb exploded next to her home. She only gave her first name, fearing for her safety and that of family members still under IS rule in other parts of Mosul.

When they reached the checkpoint, her husband and son were separated from her and her daughter, and held for questioning a few meters (yards) away.

"How can he be from Daesh, he's so young," she said of the 18-year old son. "We are good people, we don't have any enemies."

Concerns over civilians do not play a role in operations in Bashiqa, the peshmerga's Gardi said.

"Regarding the challenges, in any area that has no civilians, there won't be any problem. And currently, according to our intelligence, there are no civilians left in Bashiqa," he said.

Meanwhile, the U.N. health agency said it has set up 82 "rapid response teams" to manage risks of epidemics, chemical exposure and other health worries among people fleeing Mosul.

The World Health Organization says that water and sanitation in camps for displaced people could "face disruptions" as the numbers of those who fled Mosul is growing, raising the risk of food- and water-borne diseases such as cholera. It also says that additional concerns include children who reportedly haven't been immunized since the radical Islamic State group seized control of Iraq's second largest city in June 2014.</s>Iraqi special forces advance on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq, as an airstrike targets ISIS positions on Friday, November 4. An Iraqi-led offensive is underway to reclaim Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the last major stronghold for ISIS in the country.

A convoy of trucks carries displaced people away from Mosul on November 4. Iraqi forces have freed dozens of villages in their advance on Mosul, yet more than 1 million civilians are still trapped in the ISIS-held city.

The graves of eight family members are seen in Faziliya, north of Mosul, on Tuesday, November 1. The family was killed in late October when their home was hit in an airstrike.

Children play in a camp for internally displaced people near Kirkuk, Iraq, on October 30. More than 600 families from Tel Afar, a town west of Mosul, have been living in the camp since ISIS took control of the area in 2014.

Iraqi forces patrol the Kirkuk area for members of ISIS on October 25. The terror group has launched surprise attacks in other parts of Iraq, including Kirkuk, to distract coalition forces from the Mosul campaign and to tie up their resources elsewhere.

An Iraqi boy who lost an eye in fighting between government forces and ISIS poses for a photograph in the Debaga refugee camp on October 22.

Civilians herd sheep from a village near Mosul on October 18. The smoke came from oil wells ISIS set on fire to limit the visibility of coalition pilots.

A Peshmerga fighter peers up from an underground tunnel in the liberated town of Badana on October 18. ISIS fighters have built tunnels below residential streets to escape from airstrikes.</s>US-backed militia advance toward Raqa

 BASHIQA, Iraq: Iraqi Kurdish forces have seized the town of Bashiqa near Mosul from the Islamic State group, an official said Tuesday, as US-backed militia forces advanced on the jihadists’ Syrian stronghold Raqa.

Capturing Bashiqa would be a final step in securing the eastern approaches to Mosul, three weeks into an offensive by Iraqi forces to retake the country’s second city.

Iraqi troops have also seized the town of Hamam al-Alil south of Mosul, and Tuesday investigators carried out an initial examination of a mass grave site discovered in the area.

Bashiqa was under the “complete control” of Kurdish peshmerga forces, Jabbar Yawar, secretary general of the Kurdish regional ministry responsible for the fighters, told AFP.

“Our forces are clearing mines and sweeping the city,” Yawar said.

Meanwhile, a US-led coalition air strike killed 16 civilians, including a child, overnight in a village near Raqa, a monitor said Wednesday.

“At least 16 civilians, including six women and a child, were killed in raids carried out overnight by the international coalition targeting areas in the village of Al-Heisha,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The village is controlled by the Islamic State group and has been a target of a new assault by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces as it pushes to capture the jihadists’s Syrian bastion of Raqa.

A spokeswoman for the Kurdish-Arab alliance dismissed the reports of civilian deaths. “There is no such thing, and any such claims are IS news,” Jihan Sheikh Ahmed told AFP. However, the US-led coalition said it was checking on the reports.

An AFP correspondent on the outskirts of Bashiqa said clashes were continuing, with three air strikes hitting the town and gunfire and an explosion heard.

The peshmerga said there were still some suicide bombers and snipers there, and about five percent of Bashiqa remained under jihadist control.

Iraqi forces have been tightening the noose around Mosul since launching the offensive on October 17, with elite troops last week breaching city limits.

Upping pressure on the jihadists, the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia alliance on Saturday began its own offensive against IS’s other main bastion, Raqa in Syria.

Raqa and Mosul are the last major cities in Syria and Iraq under IS control, and their capture would deal a knockout blow to the self-styled “caliphate” it declared in mid-2014.

The US-led coalition that launched operations against IS two years ago is providing crucial backing to both offensives, with air strikes and special forces advisers on the ground.

SDF forces have been pushing south from areas near the Turkish border towards Raqa, and alliance spokeswoman Jihan Sheikh Ahmed said Tuesday they had moved to within 36 kilometres (22 miles) of the city.

“Two more villages have been taken since yesterday,” she told AFP, adding that SDF forces had so far advanced 14 kilometres (nine miles) closer to Raqa from Ain Issa, the operation’s main staging point.

“The fighting continues; morale is good and our fighters are determined that this offensive will succeed,” she said.

The fighting has prompted a steady trickle of civilians to flee IS territory, most heading towards Ain Issa.

“We were afraid of the planes, and we were afraid of the IS fighters,” said 34-year-old Wazira Al-Jeely from Al-Tuwaila village.

“When the strikes started, we took off our burqas and said ‘we’re done with you’ and we ran away.”

Dozens fled the area aboard pick-up trucks and vans. Some left on mopeds, while others escaped on foot with their sheep and goats.

SDF fighters stopped them a few kilometers from Ain Issa, checking their identities and searching belongings to avoid infiltration by jihadists.

As in the battle for Mosul, the goal of the Raqa offensive is to surround and isolate the jihadists inside the city before mounting a street-to-street assault.

In both cases officials are warning of long and bloody battles ahead, with IS expected to put up fierce resistance and use trapped civilians as human shields.

More than a million people are believed to be in Mosul. Raqa in 2011 had a pre-war population of some 240,000, and more than 80,000 people have since fled there from elsewhere in Syria.

Iraqi forces scored another victory against IS on Monday by establishing full control over Hamam al-Alil, about 15 kilometres from the edge of Mosul and the last town of note on the way to the city from the south.

They said a mass grave was found at an agricultural college in the area, with the offensive’s Joint Operations Command saying “100 bodies of citizens with their heads cut off” had been uncovered.

An AFP journalist Tuesday said body parts and bones were visible among rubbish dumped there.

Men in Iraqi security forces uniforms used ropes to pull two bodies, one headless, from the grave, and also removed a decapitated head.

“Today, the team conducted an initial examination,” said Mohammed Taher al-Tamimi, an Iraqi cabinet official.

Tamimi said the victims had been blindfolded with their hands and feet bound.

He said around 25 bodies were initially visible, but investigators believed “very large numbers” of corpses were there.

Dhiyab Tareq, a 32-year-old from the area, said he had heard shots when IS carried out executions at the site.

“I was sitting close to the door and heard the gunshots,” Tareq said, adding that the next day IS members boasted about killing security forces members.

IS’s rule has been marked by atrocities including mass beheadings and other executions.</s>BAGHDAD — Iraqi investigators were probing a mass grave on Tuesday discovered by troops advancing on the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, where soldiers have captured a sliver of land but later halted their advance.

It appeared to be the latest of several mass graves found in territory retaken from IS, which massacred hundreds of people as it swept across northern and central Iraq in 2014 and is believed to have waged a brutal crackdown since the start of the Mosul offensive.

Associated Press footage from the site shows bones and decomposed bodies among scraps of clothing and plastic bags dug out of the ground by a bulldozer after Iraqi troops noticed the strong smell while advancing into the town of Hamam al-Alil on Monday.

“Investigators flew in this morning and are on their way to the grave to conduct examinations and determine the cause of death,” said Haider Majeed, a Cabinet official in charge of mass grave investigations.

The first officials at the site said the grave, behind an earthen embankment near an agricultural college, likely holds about 100 bodies, many of them decapitated. The town lies some 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Mosul.

It was unclear who the victims were, but a soldier at the site pulled a child’s stuffed animal from the scraps of clothing and rotting flesh, swarming with flies.

In Geneva, the U.N. human rights office said it was investigating whether the discovery at Hamam al-Alil was connected to reports about the alleged killing of police officers in the same area.

“We had reports that 50 former Iraqi police officers had been killed in a building outside Mosul,” spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said. “This building was actually the same agricultural facility, agricultural college, that has been cited right now as the site of these mass graves.”

She said the U.N. had received reports alleging that IS last week abducted at least 295 former security forces personnel from villages around the northwestern town of Tal Afar, as well as the western Mawaly village area. The men’s fate is currently unknown.

Some 30 sheikhs were also reportedly taken from the Sinjar district, with one report saying that over half of them were killed. IS allegedly forcibly moved about 1,500 families to Mosul airport from Hamam al-Alil, she added.

The campaign to drive IS fighters from Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the extremists’ last major urban stronghold in the country, began on Oct. 17.

Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga forces are now converging on Mosul, although the deepest advance into an eastern sliver of the city has stalled after militants counterattacked from built-up, populated areas.

To the northeast, some 13 kilometres (8 miles) from the city, the peshmerga continued their push on the town of Bashiqa, believed to be largely deserted except for dozens of IS fighters.

Mortar fire, automatic weapons, and explosions rang out through the morning, as a thick plume of smoke hung over parts of the town, obscuring the view of aircraft.

The United Nations says over 34,000 people have been displaced from Mosul, with about three quarters settled in camps and the rest in host communities.

In a report issued overnight, the U.N. human rights office said food, water and medicine have been distributed to more than 41,000 displaced people and vulnerable residents fleeing the fighting.

Since the battle for Mosul reached the city itself on Nov. 4, some 11,000 people have fled eastwards, while some electricity and water supplies have been cut in eastern neighbourhoods.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, small-scale bombings killed at least eight people and wounded 28 others, according to police and medical officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief reporters.

The capital has seen near-daily bombings since the Mosul operation began, but no large-scale attacks. The bombings are believed to have been carried out by IS, which has frequently targeted Iraq’s security forces and Shiite majority.

Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Salah Salaheddin in Irbil, Iraq contributed to this report.
Iraqi Army discover at least 100 beheaded bodies as they retake Hamam al-Alil, the last major settlement south of Mosul.