Recent Appearances...

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Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Ahmed Ibrahim A. Alhaznawi	Ahmed Ibrahim A. Alhaznawi	al-Qaeda	Terror Networks	20021008
Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal	Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal	al-Qaeda	Home Front	20030919
Ahmed Ibrahim al-Haznawi	Ahmed Ibrahim al-Haznawi	al-Qaeda	Home Front	20031117

Africa Horn

Al-Burhan visits Omdurman after Sudanese army's advancement

2024-02-18

[SUDANTRIBUNE] Sudan
Sudan

...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
ese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan visited the Wadi Saydna military region north of Omdurman on Friday night following the break of the siege on the Corps of Engineers, a key development in the ongoing conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The front man of the Sudanese army said al-Burah’s visit was aimed at inspecting troops and reviewing the progress of ongoing operations.

Accompanied by Ahmed Ibrahim Mufaddal, the Director of the General Intelligence Service, he was received by his aide Lt Gen Yasir al-Atta and regional commanders.

"This visit came on the heels of the Armed Forces’ successful completion of the first phase of operations," read the statement referring to the break of the siege on the Corps of Engineers in southern Omdurman on Friday.

"During the visit, he was briefed on the progress of operations and commended the forces for their achievements on the ground," further added the statement.

The conflict between the army and paramilitary forces commenced in Khartoum on April 15, 2023, quickly spreading to include the Darfur region and Kordofan. Apart from Khartoum, the RSF took control of al-Jazirah State in December of the previous year.

Video clips circulated depicting the arrival of army forces from the Karari area, north of Omdurman, to the Corps of Engineers, which had been under siege by the RSF in the south- of Omdurman since mid-April.

The clips also showcased trucks transporting supplies and food from the Wadi Saydna military area, north of Omdurman, to the Corps of Engineers. This base had faced difficulties in receiving supplies since the commencement of the war.

Link

Africa Horn

Al-Burhan visits to Uganda for talks with Museveni

2023-09-17

[SUDANTRIBUNE] Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the Chairman of the Sudan
Sudan

President-for-Life of Uganda. He assumed office in 1985. His primary virtue is being prefereable to both his predecessors, Idi Amin and Milton Obote...
about enhancing bilateral relations between the two countries, exploring avenues for their strengthening, and addressing matters of mutual interests, stated the Council.

The two leaders are expected to discuss the Sudanese position from the IGAD mediation group.

Sudan rejects the chairmanship of Kenyan President William Ruto of the IGAD Quartet Group casting doubts about his neutrality in the conflict with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Al-Burhan is accompanied by Foreign Minister, Ali al-Sadiq, and the Director of the General Intelligence Service Ahmed Ibrahim Mufaddal.

Last July, Museveni received a delegation from the Forces for Freedom and Change to discuss ways to end the five-months conflict in Sudan.

Link

Africa Horn

Al-Burhan leads Sudan's delegation to UN General Assembly

2023-09-07

[SUDANTRIBUNE] Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereign Council, is set to lead the Sudan
Sudan

......
ese delegation to the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
General Assembly meeting, scheduled to take place from September 19 to 26.

In a press statement released by the Sudanese Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, it was revealed that al-Burhan will participate in the 78th United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York. However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
the Sovereignty Council has yet to issue an official statement regarding his attendance.

According to the statement, Gibril Ibrahim, the Minister of Finance, will accompany al-Burhan to the United States of America to attend the meetings, which will revolve around the theme, "Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals. Towards peace, prosperity, progress, and sustainability for all."

The Sudanese government delegation includes Ali al-Sadiq, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lt Gen Ahmed Ibrahim Mufaddal, Director General of the General Intelligence Service, and several officials.

UN sources, who spoke to Sudan Tribune earlier, said that the United Nations has updated the list of participants in the General Assembly, replacing the Vice-President of the Sovereignty Council, Malik Agar, with al-Burhan.

The head of the Sovereign Council is expected to seize this opportunity to engage with a significant number of heads of state and government, explaining his perspective on the ongoing conflict in the country and seeking international support.

This move comes after al-Burhan managed to depart the besieged army headquarters in Khartoum, where he had spent over four months. He subsequently relocated to the army headquarters in Omdurman and then made his way to Atbara and Port Sudan on the Red Sea, where he continues to oversee the country’s government.

The conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces erupted in mid-April in Khartoum and subsequently spread to the Darfur and Kordofan regions.

Link

Arabia

Three Yemeni fishermen abducted by Saudi-led forces

2022-12-30

by Emad Almarshahi

[HODHODYEMENNEWS] The Ministry of Fisheries on Wednesday condemned the Saudi-led coalition forces’ abduction of three fishermen from Buhais area in the Midi district of Hajjah province and the looting of their boat.
"Looks like you've got a hold full of Iranian arms. What bait were you using for that?"
The ministry stated in a statement that the fishermen, Muhammad Abkar Khal, Ahmed Ibrahim Khal, and Muhammad Musa Khal, were kidnapped off the coast of Midi, denouncing the continued targeting of fishermen by the coalition forces, preventing them from fishing in Yemeni waters, and confiscating their boats.

The ministry held the United Nations and its organizations responsible for the results of silence regarding the practices and violations committed by the coalition countries against Yemeni fishermen.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Paleo news agency: Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank; Israel Times: IDF arrests 17 jihadis in WB, raids home of Tel Aviv killer

2022-04-28

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Israeli forces killed a Paleostinian man and maimed three others in West Bank festivities early Wednesday, the official Paleostinian news agency WAFA said, a day after the fatal shooting of another Paleostinian.

The Israeli army told AFP it was "conducting counterterrorism activity" in the city of Jenin, but did not comment on any casualties.

Israeli security forces have stepped up operations in the occupied West Bank, particularly around Jenin where there are active fighters from several gangs, after a series of attacks in Israel since late March.

The man killed in the latest incident was identified as 21-year-old Ahmad Massad, from the village of Burqin in the northern West Bank.

He was shot in the head, a hospital official told WAFA.

Massad’s death follows that of another Paleostinian killed Tuesday when Israeli forces stormed a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank during what the army called a "counter-terrorism" operation that sparked ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful riots.

The Paleostinian health ministry said 20-year-old Ahmed Ibrahim Oweidat "succumbed to critical wounds sustained by live bullets to the head," during the shooting in Aqabat Jaber camp near Jericho.

Clashes between Israeli forces and Paleostinians are common in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967.

But there has been a wave of bloodshed in the territory and in Israel as the Moslem holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover overlapped this month.

Massad is among 26 Paleostinians and Israeli Arabs killed since late March, among them several assailants, according to an AFP tally.

During the same period, 14 Israelis were killed in various attacks.

Violent festivities have also rocked the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, sparking fears of another conflict after last year’s 11-day war between Israel and gangs in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip.

Concerns of fresh al-Aqsa festivities are building, though, ahead of Friday prayers at the compound, with the end of Ramadan also approaching in early May.

Following the al-Aqsa festivities, isolated rocket fire towards Israel from the Gaza Strip resumed, prompting Israeli reprisals on targets linked to Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,, the group which controls the coastal Paleostinian enclave.

No injuries have been reported on either side as a result of the rocket fire or retaliatory air strikes.

Paleostinian Moslems have been angered by an uptick in Jewish visits to the al-Aqsa compound, Islam’s third-holiest site. It is also Judaism’s holiest place and known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

In an apparent attempt to ease tensions, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told news hounds on Sunday that Israel was committed to the "status quo" at al-Aqsa, meaning an adherence to long-standing convention allowing Jews to visit the compound but not pray there.

The Times of Israel puts all that in perspective:

Troops detain 5 suspects in West Bank city area and raid home of terrorist who killed 3 in Tel Aviv shooting; Palestinian media reports Ahmad Massad, 20, killed

A Palestinian was killed during a firefight between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in the West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday morning, according to Palestinian Authority health officials and the Islamic Jihad terror group.

Israeli troops raided Jenin and the nearby town of Qabatiya in the pre-dawn hours in an attempt to arrest Palestinian terror suspects. Soldiers also pinned a demolition order to the home of Ra’ad Hazem, the terrorist who killed three people when he opened fire in a busy Tel Aviv bar on April 7.

The military said five Palestinians were detained in the Jenin area. Palestinian media identified one as Asim Abu al-Heija, the son of a senior official in the Hamas terror group.

Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the soldiers after they entered the city’s incendiary refugee camp, the army said. A local branch of the Islamic Jihad terror group claimed responsibility for the firefight in a statement circulated in Palestinian media.

“During the operation in Jenin, Israel Defense Forces troops acted to quell a violent riot at the scene with dozens of Palestinians who opened fire, burned trash, and hurled explosive devices at troops, who responded with gunfire,” the army said in a statement.

According to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry, an 18-year-old Palestinian was killed during the clashes. The official WAFA news outlet identified the deceased as Ahmad Massad, 21, a resident of the nearby town of Burqin.

Another three Palestinians were injured by live fire during the gunfight with Israeli troops, although all were in stable condition, the PA Health Ministry said.

The operation was the military’s first in Jenin in two weeks. Israeli forces conducted a spate of raids in mid-April in an attempt to crack down on a wave of Palestinian violence emanating from the northern West Bank city.

There was no immediate word from Palestinian health officials on Massad’s death. But the terror group confirmed it and claimed the young man as a member.

“With pride and regard we hail the heroic martyr, our son Ahmed Muhammad Fathi Massad,” Islamic Jihad said in a statement, adding that Massad had formerly served time in Israeli prison for security offenses.

Not exactly an innocent...

A string of four attacks that preceded the Israeli crackdown killed 14 people in Israel — the deadliest outbreak of terrorism in years. The ensuing raids sparked clashes that left at least 25 Palestinians dead, many of whom took part in the clashes, while others appeared to have been uninvolved civilians.

The Israeli army said 12 Palestinians suspected of involvement in terror activities were arrested during overnight raids across the West Bank, including two in Jenin and three in the nearby town of Qabatiya.

The Jenin area has emerged as a major hotspot for terror activity in recent months. Two perpetrators of recent attacks — Hazem and Diaa Hamarsheh, whose shooting spree left five dead in Bnei Brak — hailed from Jenin and its environs.

“We are not terrorists. We are defending our land and country and the path of our prophet,” Hazem’s father Fathi told local Palestinian media after the demolition order was posted on his Jenin home. The former PA security officer has repeatedly praised his son’s terror attack.

The Shin Bet security service said Monday that it had foiled an attempt by the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad to enlist residents of the West Bank to commit attacks against Israeli targets.

The agency said several Palestinians from the Jenin area — including Yasmin Shaaban, a 40-year-old mother of four — were detained for planning a bombing attack against Israeli farmers in the area.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Palestinian reported killed in clash with Israeli troops near Jericho

2022-04-27

[IsraelTimes] Military says dozens hurl stones, Molotov cocktails at forces in Aqabat Jabr refugee camp; 11 arrested overnight in raids across West Bank

A Paleostinian man was killed in overnight festivities with Israeli forces near the West Bank city of Jericho, Paleostinian officials said.

According to the Paleostinian Authority’s health ministry, 20-year-old Ahmed Ibrahim Owaidat was critically hurt by Israeli gunfire in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp, southwest of Jericho, at dawn. He died several hours later at a hospital, the ministry said.

A military spokesperson told The Times of Israel that during an arrest operation in the camp, festivities erupted, "with dozens of Paleostinians who threw stones, set fire to tires and threw Molotov cocktails at the forces."

"The force responded with riot dispersal means and live fire," the spokesperson said, without directly confirming the dead man was a participant.

In a separate statement, the IDF said 11 Paleostinians suspected of involvement in terror activities were detained across the West Bank.

No soldiers were hurt in the operations, the military said.

Tensions between Israel and the Paleostinians have risen sharply in recent months against the backdrop of repeated terror attacks in Israeli cities that left 14 dead.

Some have been carried out by assailants linked to or inspired by the Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group.

Over the same period, 25 Paleostinians have been killed across the West Bank, many of whom were carrying out or attempting to carry out attacks, as Israel has stepped up operations in response to the terror incidents.

Link

Iraq

Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Agency hands an active ISIS member to the Iraqi authorities

2022-02-21

[ShafaqNews] Kurdistan's Counter-Terrorism Agency on Sunday said it handed a person with links to the terrorist organization of ISIS to the Iraqi security authorities.

A statement of the agency said that the arrestee, Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed Jodeih, was arrested on November 17, 2021.

The agency said Jodeih, who is wanted by the federal Counter-Terrorism-Services, was handed to the Iraqi side in accordance with a Judicial warrant on February 19, 2022.

Link

Africa North

Egypt Confronts Encroachment on Water Canals

2021-05-16

[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohammed Abdel Aty has urged state institutions run by his ministry to monitor and stop any encroachment on water canals and irrigation properties.

His orders came as Egypt is locked in a dispute with Æthiopia over its giant hydropower dam on the Blue Nile.

Egypt and Sudan are calling for a legally binding agreement on the Grand Æthiopian Renaissance Dam’s (GERD) filling and operation but Addis Ababa rejects to commit to such a deal.

Congolese President and current chair of the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
Felix Tshisekedi has concluded an African tour aimed at resolving the dispute.

Aty said Friday that his order aims to ensure that all Egyptian provinces get their water needs.

Spokesman for the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohammed Ghanem stated that in the past years, the Ministry has succeeded to a great extent in facing the encroachments on the Nile River.

Ghanem said a total of 62,000 encroachments have been removed so far.

Media advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture Ahmed Ibrahim told the Middle East News Agency that it is highly important to update the irrigation system.

This falls under the Egyptian efforts to optimize its water resources.

Egypt is concerned over the impact of GERD on its water share, 55.5 billion cubic meters.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

FBI Seeking To Question Alleged Al-Qaeda Operative In Brazil

2019-08-14

“Ready the mustache wax and the coffee and cookies in the break room, George — it’s going to be a long night.”

[Jpost] The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking to question an alleged Egyptian al-Qaeda operative believed to be living in Brazil, and the South American country has pledged to cooperate with the United States in any way it can.

The FBI added Mohammed Ahmed Elsayed Ahmed Ibrahim to its Most Wanted list on Monday, saying he was being sought "for questioning in connection with his alleged role as an al-Qaeda operative and controller who has allegedly been involved in plotting attacks against the United States and its interests."

The FBI said he had been "providing material support" since about 2013 for al-Qaeda, the group behind the September 11 attacks in New York in 2001. It said he was born in Egypt in 1977 and is currently living in Brazil.

In a joint statement on Monday, Brazil's justice and foreign affairs ministries said the Egyptian had entered Brazil in 2018 and was a legal resident in the country.

"The Brazilian government is open to cooperating with US authorities on its request, in accordance with our law, and is following the case," the statement said.

Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is working to forge closer ties with US President Donald Trump

...Oh, noze! Not him!...
, an ideological ally who has proposed a bilateral trade pact between the two largest economies in the Americas.

Security cooperation between the two countries has long been strong, with US and Brazilian officials working closely together on drug and weapons smuggling cases. The United States has long been concerned by suspected holy warriors from organizations such as Hezbollah who live and operate in Brazil.

Link

Sri Lanka

Day 6: Sri Lanka attacks: 16 more arrests, death count reduced to 253, hunt for more jihadis

2019-04-26

Day 5’s events can be seen here. More about the Ahmadi refugees fleeing their homes here.

[IsraelTimes] Sri Lanka’s prime minister said Thursday that suspects linked to the coordinated Easter Sunday bomb attacks remain at large and could have access to explosives.

Some of the suspects “may go out for a suicide attack,” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Approximately 250 people were killed in the string of suicide bombings at churches and luxury hotels in and around the capital, Colombo, Sri Lanka’s health ministry said late Thursday. The death toll was revised down from previous police estimates of 359 people.

Police, meanwhile, issued a public appeal for information about three women and two men suspected of involvement in the attacks.

Wickremesinghe also said that the father of two of the suspected suicide bombers, Colombo spice dealer Mohammad Yusuf Ibrahim,

...alternatively (below), Mohammed Yoonus Ibrahim. Within a day or two no doubt the correct version will become clear,.

had been arrested. He described him as a leading businessman active in politics known as “Ibrahim Hajiar,” a Sri Lankan term for Muslims who have gone on religious pilgrimages to Mecca. The prime minister expressed doubt about Ibrahim’s complicity in the attack.

“People like that would not have wanted their sons to blow themselves up,” he said.

Sri Lankan authorities have blamed a local extremist group, National Towheed Jamaat, whose leader, alternately named Mohammed Zahran or Zahran Hashmi, became known to Muslim leaders three years ago for his incendiary online speeches.

On Wednesday, junior defense minister Ruwan Wijewardene said the attackers had broken away from National Towheed Jamaat and another group, which he identified only as “JMI.”

Wijewardene said many of the suicide bombers were highly educated and came from well-to-do families. The prime minister said it appeared that Sri Lanka’s wealthiest and best-traveled Muslims were most susceptible to the doctrine professed by the Islamic State group.

“They were too educated and therefore, they were misled,” Wickremesinghe said.

The bombers were wealthy enough to have financed the entire operation themselves, though they would have needed outside help for training and bomb-building expertise, Wickremsinghe said.

He said that authorities still hadn’t confirmed whether Zahran, who was supposed to have led one of suicide missions, was among the corpses recovered from the scenes or still at large.

Wickremesinghe said Thursday that security forces were trying to help Muslim Ahmadis from Pakistan seeking refugee status in Sri Lanka, who said they had been attacked and beaten in the days following the bombings.

An Nahar adds:

Sri Lanka's Catholic church suspended all public services over security fears on Thursday, as thousands of troops joined the hunt for suspects in deadly Easter bombings that killed nearly 360 people.

Authorities made fresh arrests and stepped up security measures.

A senior Catholic priest told AFP that all public services were being suspended and all churches closed "on the advice of security forces". Private burials will still be carried out.

Security forces using state of emergency powers arrested 16 more suspects overnight, bringing the total in custody to 74 since the attacks.

Brigadier Sumith Atapattu said the army had increased its deployment on the streets from 5,000 to 6,300, with the navy and air force also deploying an additional 2,000 personnel.

Authorities also banned drone flights.

The Daily Mail has more about jacket wallah Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, who failed to detonate at the Taj Samudra hotel, here:

His bomb malfunctioned and went off at a small guesthouse, killing one tourist

Mohamed studied aviation engineering at at Kingston University in London from 2006

His sister has told MailOnline how he became radicalised while living in Australia

Mohamed's wife has been taken into police custody

Another Daily Mail article has more about brothers Inshaf and Ilham Ibrahim, who kaboomed at the Shangri-La and Cinnamon Grand hotels, here:

Workers at family firm said Ilham, the younger brother, radicalised his sibling

He was previously arrested and then released by police, it has been claimed

The lads’ father, Mohammed Yoonus Ibrahim arrested on suspicion of helping his sons plan attack

Indian intelligence sources said Ijas Ahmed Ibrahim, 30,

...alternately Ijaz Ahmed Ibrahim...
Mohammed's third son, was also questioned about the attack

Several family members had been under surveillance before attacks, but evidence hadn't been 'sufficient' enough to take them into custody.

Sri Lanka Health Ministry revises death toll of easter Sunday bombings to 253 from previous 359 after a calculation error
[TWITTER]

Sri Lanka Health Ministry revises death toll of easter Sunday bombings to 253 from previous 359 after a calculation error
— Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) April 25, 2019

Sri Lanka police arrest 3 persons along with 21 hand grenade type, locally made low explosives
[TWITTER]

#BREAKING: Sri Lanka police arrest 3 persons along with 21 hand grenade type, locally made low explosives & 6 swords during a search operation in Modera pic.twitter.com/fX5YyKJlY7
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) April 25, 2019

Another #IS related group (at-Taqwa Media Foundation) has released a new propaganda video including perpetrators of #SriLankaAttacks. pic.twitter.com/q4PXOHyO3U
— Melisa (@cmellaniac) April 25, 2019

Link

Iraq

Two alleged ISIS members, six suspects arrested in Erbil

2019-01-18

[Rudaw] Kurdistan Region’s counter-terrorism directorate have jugged
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
eight suspected ISIS members, the unit announced late on Thursday. The arrests were made on Wednesday.

"Based on information and after close monitoring, two members of a ISIS terrorist group ‐ Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed Jadi' and Qa'ttan Ali Ahmed Jadi' ‐ were arrested on January 16, 2019 in Erbil during a successful operation," the directorate announced on their Facebook page.

The two - their relation to each other was not confirmed - were arrested under a court-issued warrant. They had worked for ISIS in the group’s security unit, the directorate stated.

Six other suspects, not identified, were picked up in the same operation.

ISIS was declared defeated in Iraq in December 2017, but sleeper cells and small units of the snuffies remain a security threat throughout the country.

Sulaimani security forces announced the arrest of a known and "dangerous" ISIS murderous Moslem on Wednesday.

Link

Iraq

10 Months after Regaining Mosul, Hunt for Bodies Goes On

2018-06-05

[AAWSAT] Atop an enormous mound of rubble under blistering sun in Iraq's second city djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, fire crews and police chip away at a grim but vital task.

Some 10 months after dislodging ISIS, they are still extracting bodies from the ruins of the shattered Old City.

"Over three days, 763 bodies have been pulled from the rubble and buried," Lieutenant Colonel Rabie Ibrahim tells Agence La Belle France Presse.

Despite the overpowering stench, the men work relentlessly, braving unwent kaboom! munitions in an area devastated by the nine-month battle.

"The operations will continue until all the corpses are extracted" from the heart of the city, Ibrahim says.

Civilians' bodies that can be identified are handed to their families, while the remains of ISIS combatants are buried in a mass grave on the western outskirts of Mosul.

Some of the putrified corpses are sent to Nineveh province's health services, Ibrahim adds.

The workers, their faces covered with masks or scarves, move with great caution.

The bodies of Lions of Islam are sometimes still clad in suicide belts.

Grenades, homemade bombs and other crude contraptions left by ISIS fighters during their retreat to Syria pose a constant threat.

The improvised boobytraps are hidden under multiple layers and obstacles -- the rubble of collapsed homes, disemboweled furniture and uprooted trees, in some places subsiding into the waters of the Tigris that meander murkily below.

Where a maze of cobbled streets was once lined with homes and market stalls, there is now a formless mess populated by stray animals, insects and disease.

The destruction is so great that some residents cannot pinpoint the remnants of their homes or even their street as they try to direct salvage workers to the remains of loved ones.

The rubble makes it impossible to bring in heavy construction machinery, says General Hossam Khalil, who leads Nineveh province's civil defense force.

His men therefore have to rely on smaller vehicles, but Mosul "only has a few," he says.

There is a pressure to work as quickly as conditions will allow: residents are exhausted by three years of ISIS rule, nine months of brutal urban combat and now the slow pace of reconstruction.

"But it's impossible, with this stench, this pollution and the epidemics they can cause," says Othmane Saad, an unemployed 40-year-old whose home in the old city is entirely destroyed.

Another resident, 33-year-old Abu Adel, wants the authorities "to clear all the corpses as quickly as possible" and to "compensate residents so they can rebuild, then establish public services".

But the task is titanic.

Since Mosul was retaken in July, "2,838 bodies, including 600 ISIS members, have been retrieved from the rubble," governor Naufel Sultane tells AFP.

Even after the corpses are taken away and buried, they leave harmful bacteria which the Tigris can carry far beyond the old city.

The authorities insist drinking water stations are unaffected and that they pump water from the Tigris' central depths, avoiding the banks and other shallows.

But gastroenterologist Ahmed Ibrahim advises caution.

"You must boil water before drinking it and don't use river water, either for bathing or washing," he tells AFP.

Birds and fish "can carry typhus, bilharzia and gastroenteritis," he adds.

1,300 bodies of Islamic State members found in Mosul

Mosul (Iraqinews.com) – As many as 1,300 bodies of Islamic State (IS) members were found in Mosul city since Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced its liberation last year.

“Most of the bodies were belonging to IS leaders and security officials, who were killed at the hands of Iraqi servicemen during a security operation to liberate Mosul city from terrorism,” Colonel Mohamed al- Bujairi told Iraqi website Al-Qurtas News Monday.

He added that the troops buried the IS bodies at remote graveyards in western Mosul.

Last month, the governor of Nineveh province announced that the Old City in Mosul has been declared to be empty of bodies under the rubble.

The total number of recovered bodies since the end of war against Islamic State in Mosul that ended more than ten months ago reached 9,000, according to municipal sources.

Link

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