A British hostage has appeared in a new Islamic State propaganda video said to have been recorded in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which coalition forces are currently trying to retake from militants.

John Cantlie, a journalist who was captured in Syria in 2012, is pictured looking thin in the face in the footage released by the IS-linked Amaq news agency.

In the video, he talks about damage to the infrastructure in Mosul he says coalition attacks have caused.

Mr Cantlie begins by saying that Mosul, which used to have five bridges across the Tigris River, now has only one bridge linking east and west.

Image: Iraqi forces take back Mosul from IS, one street at a time

He claims coalition forces "took it upon themselves to systematically destroy" the other four, causing "pandemonium".


Mr Cantlie says the coalition's aim is to stop the "Mujahideen moving freely within Mosul".

But he claims the wrong target has been chosen.

"There are no Mujahideen here," he says. "Mujahideen are fighting on the frontlines, many kilometres (away)."

He says ordinary people are being badly affected and "stopped in their tracks by the bombs that have destroyed these bridges".

Image: An Iraqi soldier fires an RPG at IS fighters in Al Qasar, southeast of Mosul

Later in the video, Mr Cantlie moves to another location. Behind him are people filling containers with water from a standpipe.

"Since the coalition began dropping bombs in earnest on this city, water is now a big problem," he says.

Mr Cantlie has fronted a series of videos for IS during his time in captivity.

As this latest one was released, the commander of the US-led coalition said its battle against IS in Mosul could take another two months.

The attempt to recapture Mosul from IS is the biggest battle in Iraq since the US-led invasion of 2003.