Mosul battle intensifies: 24 killed in an attack by Islamic State

Baghdad: At least 24 people were killed in an attack by the Islamic State militant group in the Iraqi city of Mosul on Saturday. The news comes a day after Islamic State militants launched an attack using two car bombs on Kanaos village in the south of Qayyarah, killing two soldiers and injuring 29 others, Press TV reported. Iraqi forces recaptured Qayyarah, which lies on the western bank of Tigris river, some 60 kilometres south of Mosul, from Islamic State late in August. Iraqi media reported on Saturday that fierce clashes were underway between Iraqi security forces and the Islamic State near Mosul’s airport. Iraq’s Almada Press website reported that Iraqi forces thwarted an Islamic State assault on the Aden district, east of Mosul, killing 13 terrorists, including the senior commander, Talaat Ahmed Fathi aka Abu Mohammed al-Iraqi.