ISIS have a massive stockpile of deadly chemical weapons ready to use in the battle for Mosul, Sun man in terror city is told
Escapees from Iraq's second city tell The Sun of the worsening situation there as the paranoid jihadists behead people for having mobile phones
A 21-year-old Iraqi who recently escaped from south of Mosul has told The Sun that ISIS has “a lot” of chemical weapons and is “absolutely” willing to use them against the advancing Iraqi and coalition forces.
“When I went inside Mosul city centre…I heard a lot of taxi drivers talking about chemical weapons…they said ISIS was manufacturing them and have a lot of them,” said Ahmed, said sitting inside the main Mosque in Dibaga refugee camp in Northern Iraq.
Ahmed “does not know” exactly where the jihadists are stockpiling the weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in the city.
But, when asked if he thought they were willing to use them he responded emphatically: “Yes, absolutely.”
The 21-year-old – who only escaped four days ago when the Iraqi army liberated his village – believes one of the reasons ISIS is willing to use WMDs is their apocalyptic vision of the war.
“ISIS will fight…they think this is the third world war and they want to fight to death,” he said.
This news will be of serious concern to those Mosul residents still trapped in the city.
The use of these weapons has largely been banned by the international community for their indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians.
And it is getting more and more difficult for the many there are many people still inside Mosul to escape from ISIS, Ahmed explained.
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More than 30,000 coalition troops attacked Iraq’s second largest city from multiple fronts just over a week ago.
And Ahmed believes this assault has caused conditions within the city to worsen.
“Everything is so expensive…we were treated like animals.
“If you cut your beard they would beat you. If you smoked they would beat you.
“And if they found a phone on you they will cut your head off,” he said.
“Around three months ago inside in the city centre I watched ISIS actually behead some people because they were using mobile phones,” he added.
Around 4,000 ISIS fighters are believed to still be in Mosul, preparing for the final assault.
According to Ahmed, at least some of the most dedicated are the foreign fighters.
“I saw many Egyptians driving through our town to Mosul with car bombs…there was also some westerners, possibly French people, who were patrolling for ISIS,” he recalled.
Mosul, which had a pre-war population of around two million mostly Sunni Muslims, accepted the rule of ISIS – which many viewed as preferable to the Shia-dominated Baghdad government – when the bloodthirsty jihadists attacked the city in June 2014.
It is these Sunnis left in the city that Ahmed sees as the only glimmer of hope – if they organise to overthrow ISIS.
“If the Iraqi army surround the city, perhaps the Sunnis might be able to rise up against them,” he explained.
But another refugee is less optimistic.
“I managed to talk to my brother this morning…and he said ISIS are still strong inside Mosul. They control everything,” recalled Hussein, a former Iraqi army officer.
The father of four added that there was “some organisation” against ISIS in the city.
But he said he does not think it is “strong enough” because ISIS has confiscated all their weapons.
Hussein is also fearful for the life of his brother, who is at the moment trapped on the southern outskirts of the city.
“I am not sure if he will make it out alive…ISIS are staying outside the villages and encircling them.
“But perhaps – ‘God Willing’ – he will escape,” he said.
The thirty-five-year-old added that he also has concerns for his nephews.
“My brother has four children and ISIS have tried to indoctrinate them, and now my brother has stopped them from going to school,” he said.
Mohammed, a fifteen-year-old from Hawijja – a large town still controlled by ISIS west of Kirkuk – also confirmed that ISIS is attempting to brainwash children into their sick ideology.
“In school they only taught their extreme version of the Islamic religion,” explained Mohammed, who escaped five days ago.
He added: “We were also forced to learn about the AK47 weapon.”
The shy boy – who is obviously still traumatised from his time in ISIS territory – only managed to escape after his family bribed a local fighter to smuggle him to the Kurdish-controlled town of Kirkuk.
Mohammed explained: “I had family in Kirkuk. But my father had to bribe an Iraqi ISIS fighter $500 (£410) to let me go.”
Mohammed, who has many relatives still stuck in Hawijja is also not optimistic about their situation.
“I still have a lot of my family left there – at least 12 of them, but I don’t think they will escape,” he said.
Wanting to take revenge against the jihadists, he angrily added: “But in the future I want to join the Iraqi army and kill Daesh.”
Children are not the only ones to have suffered under ISIS in Mosul.
Women have also be heavily abused by the fanatics, something that is also evident in this refugee camp.
“Life is very hard inside Mosul, especially for women. They cannot go out of the house without a husband or a brother.
“If they do, they take your husband and demand money,” said Nizir, a fifty-year-old woman who is now living in the courtyard of the camp’s school.
With her young daughter standing beside her, she added that the cost of basic goods has also increased massively since the start of the assault.
“It is very bad in the city, prices have doubled or trebled – 50kg of bread is now 30,000 Iraqi Dinar (around £20).”
Nizir, who escaped less than a week ago is fearful about talking to the press, like many refugees in the camp.
“I have one brother still with IS. The last time I spoke to him was on Wednesday before I left and if ISIS found out I had spoken to a journalist they would kill him,” she explained.
And with reports of the terror group preventing civilians from fleeing Mosul and even using them as human shields, the possibility of the rest of Nizir’s family making it out alive is not looking likely.
The distraught mum added: “Only half of my family escaped. The rest were captured by ISIS…and if they find out you were trying to escape they would usually kill you.”
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