Deadly suicide bombings hit shopping district in Mosul

Suicide bombers have killed at least three people while
attacking a shopping district of east Mosul that was 
retaken from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group a few months ago, according to Iraqi medical and security officials.

The attack struck the area's Muthanna neighbourhood 
late on Friday as residents shopped in advance of the Eid 
al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting 
month of Ramadan.

"The first suicide bomber blew himself up as he was 
being stopped by a policeman, who died on the spot," a 
senior police officer told AFP news agency.

A second bomber managed to enter a shopping 
arcade and blew himself up among civilians, killing at 
least two and wounding nine, according to the same officer and a medic at Al-Khansaa hospital.

A third suicide bomber was killed by police before he 
could detonate his vest, the sources said.

The attack was not the first but among the bloodiest 
since Iraqi forces retook the eastern side of Mosul in 
January as part of a massive offensive to wrest back the country's second city from ISIL.

Residents in areas retaken from ISIL, also known as ISIS, 
have cautioned that sleeper cells remain a threat and that cursory screening has allowed many ISIL supporters to 
return to civilian life without facing justice.

There had been growing calls in east Mosul before 
Friday night's attack for the families of ISIL members 
to be, among other measures, banished for 10 years.


'Liberation' on the way


On Thursday, Iraq's prime minister said the "liberation" 
of the city of Mosul from ISIL would be announced in a 
few days.

"It's a matter of a few days and we will announce the 
total liberation of Mosul," Haider al-Abadi was quoted 
by Baghdad- based Sumaria TV as saying.

The announcement came as Iraqi forces were 
continuing the fight against ISIL fighters in their last stronghold in western Mosul, the city's old town.

ISIL has lost much of its territory over the past three 
years, and Mosul is their last urban bastion in Iraq.

The fighters are expected to make their last stand in 
the Old City - a densely populated quarter with narrow, 
winding alleys.

Up to 150,000 civilians are believed to be trapped in 
there,where conditions have been described by the UN as
desperate.


Mosque destroyed

The fight for Mosul has now lasted for more than eight
months.

On Wednesday ISIL fighters blew up al-Nuri Mosque as 
Iraqi forces advanced on the ancient religious compound.

Officials from Iraq and the US-led anti-ISIL coalition 
said the destruction of the site was a sign of ISIL’s 
imminent loss of Mosul, with Abadi calling it an "official declaration of defeat".

The loss of the iconic 12th-century minaret - one of the
country's most recognisable monuments sometimes 
referred to as Iraq's Tower of Pisa - left the country 
in shock.