The massive battle to liberate Iraq’s second largest city from ISIS entered its sixth day amid reports that the terrorist group has taken hundreds of civilians captive to use as human shields.

As Iraqi-led forces advance toward Mosul, the last major stronghold of ISIS in Iraq, the United Nations said it is “gravely worried” about reports that the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, is holding some 550 families in and around the northern city for use as human shields.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein also said his office will be investigating reports of ISIS executing at least 40 civilians in one of the villages outside Mosul.

“There is a grave danger that ISIL fighters will not only use such vulnerable people as human shields but may opt to kill them rather than see them liberated,” he said in a statement. “We know ISIL has no regard for human life, which is why it is incumbent upon the Iraqi Government to do its utmost to protect civilians.”



Pentagon Identifies American Service Member Killed in Iraq



Iraqi Villagers Near Mosul Celebrate Freedom, Recount Life Under ISIS



Operation to Liberate Mosul Advancing 'More Quickly' Than Expected, Iraqi Prime Minister Says







The Iraqi-led coalition moving toward Mosul has encountered booby traps, roadside bombs and trenches filled with oil that ISIS set ablaze to provide smoke cover for its fighters. Dramatic images from the area show thick black smoke rising from torched oil fields and billowing into the sky over Mosul and surrounding towns.

ISIS has also torched sulfur stocks at an industrial plant south of Mosul, sending plumes of toxic smoke into the air and over a base where U.S. military advisers are stationed. There have been no reports of hospitalizations so far, though some American service members have donned gas masks as a precaution. The U.S.-led coalition against ISIS said it has collected air samples as a precautionary measure to analyze the fumes.

Iraqi officials estimate it will take at least two to three days to contain the burning sulfur fire, according to a U.S. military official in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

By Saturday, the Iraqi army had pushed into Qaraqosh, also known as Hamdaniyah and Bakhdida, and raised its flag over the northern town some 20 miles southeast Mosul. Fewer than 200 ISIS fighters in the town, the official said. Further south, some skirmishes continued a day after ISIS fighters launched a massive attack in and around the city of Kirkuk.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter made an unannounced stop in Baghdad on Saturday for an update on the offensive to retake Mosul, which the United States is supporting with airstrikes and about 100 to 200 military advisers on the ground. Carter told reporters he is "encouraged" by how the operation has advanced so far, though he acknowledged that "tough fighting" lies ahead.

U.S. Army Liet. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said even after Iraq takes back Mosul, ISIS must be routed in other areas of the country. Townsend told reporters the United States will continue to play a role in these objectives and will remain an important part for some time.







A U.S. military official in Baghdad confirmed that Iraqi special forces had isolated the town of Qaraqosh and launched an assault there on Saturday. Further north, the official said, Iraqi Kurdish forces known as peshmerga had pushed forward, enabling the Iraqi army to move along their axis of advance.

The major operation began Monday with about 18,000 Iraqi forces, 10,000 Kurdish forces known as peshmerga and a few thousand Iraqi federal police leading the effort to free the strategic city of Mosul from more than two years of ISIS rule. American advisers are also involved in the mission that is operating on two fronts -- one west of the Great Zab River and the other just north of Qayyarah.

An American service member was killed by a roadside bomb northeast of Mosul on Thursday, marking the first U.S. casualty in the region since the operation began. The U.S. Defense Department has identified the fallen service member as Navy Chief Petty Officer Jason C. Finan, 34, of Anaheim, California. Finan, who belonged to an explosive-ordnance disposal unit, was serving alongside Iraqi troops as an adviser.

Story continues