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 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.

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

On the southern front, Iraqi forces are still some 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the city center. The fighting is centered on the town of Hamam al-Alil, where Associated Press journalists could hear gunfire and saw attack helicopters firing on IS positions.

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. The town, which is believed to be largely empty except for IS 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 off 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 IS 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 (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. Al-Hamdani said five female students, a woman and three policemen were killed in the attack, while 25 others were wounded.

IS 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 (130 kilometers) 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, IS 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.

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.

Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin and Murtada Faraj in Baghdad, Cristiana Mesquita near Bashiqa, Iraq, Balint Szlanko near Hamam al-Alil, Iraq, and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.</s>BAGHDAD/AIN ISSA, Syria (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters targeted Iraqi troops with car bombs and ambushes in Mosul, stalling an army advance in their north Iraq stronghold, but faced attack on a new front on Sunday when U.S.-backed rebels launched a campaign for the Syrian city of Raqqa.

The jihadists have lost control of seven eastern districts of Mosul to Iraqi special forces who broke through their lines last Monday. Officials say the militants are now sheltering among civilians in those neighborhoods and targeting soldiers in what one called the world’s “toughest urban warfare”.

Mosul, the largest Islamic State-controlled city in either Iraq or Syria, has been held by the jihadist fighters since they drove the army out of northern Iraq in June 2014.

The three-week Mosul campaign has brought together a force of around 100,000 soldiers, security forces, Shi’ite militias and Kurdish fighters, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, to crush the Sunni jihadists.

Across the border, U.S.-backed Syrian fighters announced on Sunday the start of their own campaign, called Euphrates Anger, to recapture Islamic State’s Syrian bastion of Raqqa.

The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) is an alliance of Kurdish and Arab armed groups which has seized large swathes of territory along the Syria-Turkey border from Islamic State and pushed to within 30 km (20 miles) of Raqqa.

But the prominence within SDF ranks of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, has raised questions over its suitability as a force to capture the predominantly Arab city.

Turkey, which has battled Kurdish separatists for three decades, regards the YPG as anathema and Western officials have said the Raqqa operation should be fought mainly by Arab forces.

Washington says the battle for Raqqa will “overlap” with the assault on Mosul, in part because of concerns that any delay would allow Islamic State to use it as a base to launch attacks on targets abroad.

France also wants a coordinated campaign against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. “Mosul-Raqqa can’t be disassociated because Islamic State and the territories it occupies span that area,” Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

TWIN OFFENSIVES

Twin offensives on Raqqa and Mosul could bring to an end the self-styled caliphate declared by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from the pulpit of a Mosul mosque in 2014.

Baghdadi, however, has told his followers there can be no retreat in a “total war” with their enemies, and the militants in Mosul have been waging a fierce and brutal defense.

They have deployed waves of suicide car bombs, as well as mortar attacks, roadside bombs and sniper fire against the advancing troops, and officers say they have also left behind fighters among residents of districts taken over by the army.

“That’s why we are carrying out the toughest urban warfare that any force in the world could undertake,” said Sabah al-Numani, spokesman for Iraq’s elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS).

“Sometimes they climb to the rooftops of houses where civilians are still living and they hold them hostage and open fire on our forces, because they know we will not use air strikes against targets that have civilians.”

Militants also targeted the troops with car bombs, sometimes waving white flags as they approached, he said.

Major General Maan al-Sadi, a CTS commander, told state television Islamic State fighters had launched more than 100 car bombs against his forces in the east, which is just one of several fronts in the Mosul offensive.

A top Kurdish security official said Islamic State had also deployed drones strapped with explosives, and long-range artillery shells filled with chlorine and mustard gas.

It could resort to even more devastating weapons including a network of booby traps that can blow up whole neighborhoods, Masrour Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Security Council, told Reuters.

FORCES SURROUNDED

Late on Friday, a CTS unit came under attack from the rear after advancing into east Mosul, said a colonel in the Ninth Armoured Division which is also taking part in operations there.

Dust is seen after an Iraqi soldier fired from a tank during fighting with Islamic State fighters, in the Shahrazad disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq, November 6, 2016. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Islamic State militants emerged from houses behind them and isolated the convoy, preventing reinforcements from reaching them. Surrounded and low on ammunition, they had to shelter in houses before they finally got out on Saturday.

The Islamic State news agency Amaq released footage on Sunday of captured or destroyed military vehicles, including the burnt wreckage of a Humvee it said was taken in the eastern district of Aden. Fighters shouted “Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest)” and unloaded ammunition and communications equipment.

Amaq also said Islamic State was behind two bomb attacks on Sunday in Tikrit and Samarra, cities to the south of Mosul, which killed 21 people. Officials said the attacks, carried out by suicide bombers driving ambulances packed with explosives, targeted a checkpoint and a car park for Shi’ite pilgrims.

While the army and special forces have been pushing into Mosul from the east, Kurdish peshmerga fighters are holding territory to the northeast, and mainly Shi’ite militias have sought to seal off the desert routes to Syria to the west.

Security forces have also advanced from the south, entering the last town before Mosul on Saturday and reaching within 4 km (2.5 miles) of Mosul airport on the city’s southwest edge, a senior commander said.

The United Nations has warned of a possible exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees from a city which is still home to up to 1.5 million people. So far 34,000 have been displaced, the International Organization for Migration said.

Many of those still in Mosul feel trapped, including those in districts which the army says it has entered.

“We still can’t go out of our houses.... mortars are falling continuously on the quarter,” a resident of the Quds neighborhood on the eastern edge of the city told Reuters by telephone.

Although there was no fighting in his own district, for the first time in five days, he said he could hear clashes in the two neighborhoods immediately to the north and south.

In the northern Malayeen district a witness said Islamic State fighters had set fire to a collection of mobile homes, once used by Iraqi security forces, apparently to create a smokescreen against air strikes.

“I can see flames rising up, near the main street,” he said. “Daesh (Islamic State) don’t let the fire engines get to the fire to extinguish it”.

Several witnesses, on both sides of the Tigris River which splits Mosul’s eastern and western halves, said they heard bursts of celebratory gunfire after the militants claimed falsely they had made sweeping counter-attacks against the army.

Slideshow (24 Images)

“We heard a voice from the mosque - outside prayer time - of a man shouting: ‘Allahu Akbar...brave soldiers of the caliphate have regained control of Bartella and Qayyara,” said one resident, referring to two forward bases used by Iraqi forces.

“We know they are lying,” he said. “The truth is hidden from no one.”</s>Suicide bombers strike in two Iraqi cities, killing 11 - officials

TIKRIT, Iraq, Nov 6 (Reuters) - A suicide attacker detonated an ambulance packed with explosives in Tikrit on Sunday, killing nine people at the southern entrance to the city, police and hospital sources said.

The bomber struck during the busy morning rush hour. Authorities declared a curfew in the city, saying they had information that further attacks were possible.

In Samarra, about 50 km (30 miles) south of Tikrit, two people were killed when a suicide car bomber struck a car park for Shi'ite pilgrims visiting the city's al-Askari mosque, sources said.</s>Image copyright EPA Image caption A mosque car park was targeted in Samarra, killing Shia pilgrims

Suicide bombers have used explosives-laden ambulances to kill at least 21 people and wound many others in the Iraqi cities of Tikrit and Samarra.

The so-called Islamic State (IS) group said it had carried out both attacks.

The attack in the holy city of Samarra targeted Shia pilgrims, including Iranians. A queue of vehicles waiting to enter Tikrit was also hit.

Further north, government forces continue to battle IS in Mosul, but deadly street fighting has slowed them.

They are facing fierce resistance as they push through the city's eastern and southern suburbs, blocked by concrete barricades and snipers on rooftops.

Slow progress

The deadliest of Sunday's blasts happened in Tikrit, some 200km (123 miles) south of Mosul.

A suicide bomber drove a booby-trapped ambulance into a line of vehicles queuing at a checkpoint at the southern entrance to the city, once the hometown of executed former leader Saddam Hussein.

The blast was so huge it blew some victims into a nearby river.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The scene of the blast in Tikrit

Image copyright Reuters Image caption A queue of cars waiting at a checkpoint were hit

In Samarra, further south, another ambulance was detonated in a car park for the al-Askari mosque - one of the holiest shrines in Shia Islam. Iranian pilgrims were among the dead.

The number of dead and wounded at both attacks varies between reports.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption BBC Arabic's Feras Kilani in Mosul, with cameraman Marek Polaszewski: "A large armed car drives packed with explosives drives directly into the convoy"

Iraq's special forces (CTS) have secured a foothold in the eastern districts of Mosul but have moved only a kilometre since Friday.

They are now pushing into more densely populated areas and have had to curtail air strikes in order to protect civilians.

CTS spokesman Sabah al-Numani said they were facing "the toughest urban warfare that any force in the world could undertake", with sniper fire from rooftops and IS militants using false flags of surrender to entice troops towards car bombs.

Satellite images show the erection of barricades on key routes. IS has also dug ditches, some of which have been filled with water.

The IS-linked news agency, Amaq, released images of destroyed government military vehicles.

Image copyright Stratfor.com/Airbus Image caption Satellite images show IS barricades on key routes in Mosul and razed ground near the airport

Image copyright Stratfor.com/Airbus Image caption Closer-up image of the line of barricades

Image copyright AP Image caption Troops in Mosul are faced not only with battling IS but evacuating thousands of civilians

One resident of the Quds district told Reuters by telephone: "We still can't go out of our houses... mortars are falling continuously on the quarter."

Another resident in Malayeen district said IS fighters had set mobile homes ablaze to use as a smokescreen.

Government troops have gained control of Hammam al-Alil, about 15km (10 miles) south of Mosul on the Tigris river, despite fierce resistance.

Lt-Gen Raed Shakir Jawdat said security forces were in control of the centre of the town, but did not say whether IS militants had been pushed out completely.

Fighting is also continuing in Bashiqa, 13km north-east of Mosul.

More on this story

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, visiting the front line to the east of Mosul, said the government-led forces "will not retreat and will not be broken".

"My message to IS," he said, "if they want to save their lives they should lay down their weapons now."

Mosul fell to the jihadists in June 2014 and their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, chose a mosque in the city as a place to proclaim the establishment of a "caliphate".

Before the offensive began on 17 October, there were believed to be between 3,000 and 5,000 militants remaining in Mosul, along with up to 1.5 million civilians.</s>TIKRIT, Iraq: Suicide bombers driving ambulances packed with explosives detonated their vehicles at a checkpoint and a car park for Shiite pilgrims in two Iraqi cities on Sunday, killing at least 21 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

The twin attacks took place in Tikrit and Samarra, as Iraqi troops and security forces battled to retake the northern city of Mosul from Daesh militants who have controlled it for more than two years.

They appeared to be part of a series of diversionary attacks by the ultra-hard-line Sunni Islamists, who have struck the Kurdish-controlled city of Kirkuk, the capital Baghdad and a western desert town during the three-week Mosul campaign.

The Daesh group’s Amaq news agency said the attacks were carried out by the militant group.

In Tikrit, a bomber detonated his explosives-laden ambulance at the southern entrance to the city during the morning rush hour, killing 13 people, police and hospital sources said.

Another attacker detonated a vehicle in a car park for pilgrims visiting one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines, Al-Askari mosque in Samarra, south of Tikrit.

The bomb killed at least eight people, local officials said, including two Iranian pilgrims. The local operation command, a joint military and police unit, said the vehicle used in Samarra was also an ambulance.

Authorities in both cities declared curfews, fearing possible further attacks.

Amaq said two suicide bombers struck in Samarra, the first detonating a car bomb and the second activating an explosives vest among a group of people who survived the first blast. It said the Tikrit attack was carried out by a single car bomber.

Iraqi troops and security forces, backed by a US-led international coalition, are battling Daesh militants in the northern city of Mosul. Special forces have entered eastern districts, where they faced fierce resistance from the militants who deployed car bombs, snipers and mortar fire against them. 



(Reporting by Ghazwan Hassan in Tikrit, Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo)</s>The twin attacks took place in Tikrit and Samarra, as Iraqi troops and security forces battled to retake the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State militants who have controlled it for more than two years.

They appeared to be part of a series of diversionary attacks by the ultra-hardline Sunni Islamists, who have struck the Kurdish-controlled city of Kirkuk, the capital Baghdad and a western desert town during the three-week Mosul campaign.

In Tikrit, a bomber detonated his explosives-laden ambulance at the southern entrance to the city during the morning rush hour, killing 13 people, police and hospital sources said.

Another attacker detonated a vehicle in a car park for pilgrims visiting one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrines, al-Askari mosque in Samarra, south of Tikrit.

The bomb killed at least eight people, local officials said, including two Iranian pilgrims. The local operation command, a joint military and police unit, said the vehicle used in Samarra was also an ambulance.

Authorities in both cities declared curfews, fearing possible further attacks.

Iraqi troops and security forces, backed by a U.S.-led international coalition, are battling Islamic State in the northern city of Mosul. Special forces have entered eastern districts, where they faced fierce resistance from the militants who deployed car bombs, snipers and mortar fire against them.</s>The bomber struck during the busy morning rush hour. Authorities declared a curfew in the city, saying they had information that further attacks were possible.

In Samarra, about 50 km (30 miles) south of Tikrit, two people were killed when a suicide car bomber struck a car park for Shi'ite pilgrims visiting the city's al-Askari mosque, sources said.

The attacks took place as Iraqi troops and security forces, backed by a U.S.-led international coalition, were fighting to drive Islamic State militants out of the northern city of Mosul which they have controlled for the last two years.</s>Suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group killed at least 25 people and wounded more than 50 in two cities north of Baghdad on Sunday, officials said.

One bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at the southern entrance to Tikrit, while another other blew up an ambulance at a car park in Samarra, possibly in concert with a third bomber.

The Tikrit attack killed at least 15 people and wounded at least 33, while at least 10 died and at least 25 were wounded in Samarra, security and medical officials said. Iranian pilgrims were among the victims in Samarra, which is home to a major Shia shrine that was bombed in 2006.

IS issued a statement claiming responsibility, identifying two of the bombers as “Al-Moslawi” — a nom de guerre that would indicate they were from Mosul, though it could be a propaganda attempt to link militants from other areas with the ongoing battle for Iraq’s second city.</s>A provincial spokesman says a suicide attack against a security checkpoint north of Baghdad has killed at least nine people.

The spokesman for Salahuddin province, Ali al-Hamdani, said the suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car during rush hour on Sunday morning into the main checkpoint at the southern entrance of the provincial capital, Tikrit.

Al-Hamdani said five female students, a woman and three policemen were killed. He added that 25 other people were wounded.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Islamic State (IS) militants have claimed multiple similar attacks.

The Sunni extremists frequently launch attacks targeting Iraq’s security forces and civilians in public areas.

In April 2015, Iraqi security forces drove out IS militants from Tikrit, about 130 kilometres north of Baghdad.</s>TIKRIT (IRAQ): A total of 39 persons were killed and some 40 wounded on Sunday in two bombings and gunfire attacks in Iraqi province of Salahudin, officials here said.

A barrel filled with explosives detonated near a bridge on early Sunday in provincial capital city of Tikrit in Shishin area, some 170 km from Baghdad, killing 13 persons and injuring 30 others, the source told Xinhua news agency on condition of anonymity.

In another incident, an explosive-laden car went off at a parking lot in Iraq’s Samarra city, 120 km from Baghdad, leaving 10 persons killed and 10 others injured, an official said.

The blast set fire to several nearby cars and caused damages to many others at the scene, the source added.

Early in the day, gunmen, believed to be affiliated to Islamic State (IS) militant group, broke into the house of a tribal leader in Tulul al-Baj area, some 50 km north of Tikrit, and opened fire in the house and killed 16 persons, the source said.

Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts killed 1,792 Iraqis and injured 1,358 others in October across Iraq, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said.

Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the US, which invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003.
Suicide bombers strike in the cities of Tikrit and Samarra in Iraq, killing at least 21.