Bartella, Iraq
Plumes of dust and smoke rose over the majority-Christian town of Bartella, east of Mosul, as Islamic State militants sent a barrage of car bombs to repel the advance of the counterterrorism forces. But by nightfall, the militants’ resistance had crumbled and the Iraqi flag had been raised over the town’s main church, commanders said.
Kurdish forces said they had launched a “large-scale” offensive from the north to secure a string of villages.
The multipronged attacks raised the tempo of the battle for the city, which began Monday. The entry onto the battlefield of the black-clad elite forces — who have trained closely with the U.S. military — marks the beginning of what their commanders say will be a sharp push toward Mosul, the militants’ last major stronghold.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced to Western diplomats in a video call to Paris that forces were moving “more quickly than planned” toward Mosul, and he lauded the cooperation in the attack by the different forces.
Iraqi counterterrorism commanders said they had advanced a total of eight miles in their push toward the city. On the northern front, Kurdish forces moved into the village of Nawaran.
Despite the advances, the militants showed that they were not willing to concede ground easily. In the north, a U.S. service member was killed by the explosion of an improvised explosive device, the Pentagon said.
There were indications that there were also heavy casualties among Kurdish peshmerga forces, which Kurdish forces linked to a lack of air support from the U.S.-led coalition.
“Regrettably a number of peshmerga have paid the ultimate sacrifice for us to deliver today’s gains,” the peshmerga’s general command said in a statement. Coalition support and air cover “were not as decisive as in the past,” it added. The Islamic State claimed five suicide attacks on the peshmerga, killing an unspecified number of Kurdish soldiers.
In Bartella, to the east, once home to 30,000 people, Iraqi units were backed by attack helicopters as they broke through the earthen berms that once marked the forward line. One helicopter was hit by Islamic State artillery fire, although the pilot managed to land and crew members were evacuated, said Gen. Hamid al-Maliki, head of army aviation.
The Islamic State militants had dispatched an onslaught of 15 car bombs, and while most were eliminated by tank fire or rockets, at least one hit its target.
“They are trying to shock us and break our morale,” Lt. Gen. Abdulwahab al-Saedi, a counterterrorism commander, said from an observation point atop a deserted strip mall on the edge of the town as another truck bomb exploded in the distance.
The elite units have been at the front of nearly every other battle against the militants in Iraq as territory has slowly been taken back from the Islamic State. The units expect to be the spearhead once more in Mosul and have about 3,000 troops involved in the operation.