Iraqi army finally retakes eastern Mosul from ISIS – but the rotting corpses of terror fanatics littering the streets threaten local kids with grisly diseases and infections

CHILDREN in Mosul face disease and infection from the dead bodies of ISIS terror thugs slain by Iraqi forces who have re-taken the eastern part of the war-torn city.

A health worker has described the appalling conditions confronting youngsters who have already faced unimaginable hardships during the occupation.

Mahmoud, a medical assistant living in a newly liberated part of east Mosul, told Save The Children: "The bodies of ISIS fighters are still lying in the streets and no-one has moved them. The rotting bodies could start an outbreak of disease.

"There is no power. No water. People are drinking from the wells here. This water is unsafe. The well water is contaminated with metals and acids.

"There are infectious diseases, skin diseases caused by dirty water. Children are not washing. A child should be clean so they can be healthy. We want them to be healthy. Families are doing what they can.

"But they’re getting skin diseases from polluted water, the environment and food. People have well water reaching their houses and children play near the water.

"People are used to living like that. They don’t have a problem. But it is a very bad thing for health, it’s unacceptable."

An estimated 3,300 ISIS fighters have been killed in the offensive.

Mahmoud also described the appalling mental trauma living in a war zone inflicts on young minds. "The bodies are still out there. The scenes are... children are at a stage of shaping their personality and psyche," he said.

"All these things affect them psychologically. Now they have to see this, after everything that happened under ISIS. They saw killings and beheadings on what ISIS call their ‘broadcasts’…It drained children emotionally."

Commanders today said East Mosul was liberated from the murderous terror group, three months after a huge offensive against the jihadist bastion was launched.

Elite forces have in recent days entered the last neighbourhoods on the eastern side of Mosul, on the left bank of the Tigris River that runs through the city.

Speaking at a news conference in Bartalla, a town east of Mosul, Staff General Talib al-Sheghati, who heads the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), announced "the liberation... of the left bank".

Sheghati added however that while the east of the city could be considered under government control, some work remained to be done to flush out the last holdout jihadists.

The "important lines and important areas are finished," he said, adding that "there is only a bit of the northern (front) remaining."

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said "the efforts of our brave forces were successful in the shape of the completion of the main plan of clearing the left side."

Operations were ongoing to clear some parts of east Mosul, including some forested areas along the Tigris, Abadi said in a statement.

Today's announcement marks the end of a phase in the operation launched on October 17 to retake Mosul, Iraq's second city and the last major urban stronghold ISIS has in the country.

The offensive, Iraq's largest military operation in years with tens of thousands of fighters involved, began with a focus on sparsely populated areas around Mosul.

CTS entered the city proper in November and encountered tougher than expected resistance from IS, whose fighters launched a huge number of suicide car bombs against advancing Iraqi forces.

Save the Children’s Director of Advocacy for the Middle East, Misty Buswell, said: “Many families have escaped the horrors of Mosul, but at least 300,000 children remain trapped in the west of the city and now face the prospect of a brutal siege.

“Children have already paid a heavy price during the battles for the east, with civilians so far making up nearly half of all casualties in the conflict. In the narrow and densely populated streets of the west, in Mosul’s old city, children and their families run an even greater risk of being caught in the crossfire or being hit by bombs.

“As the fighting moves even deeper into Mosul, coalition and Iraqi forces must do everything in their power to protect children and civilian buildings like schools and hospitals, and to refrain from using indiscriminate, high explosive weapons in populated areas. Safe routes out of the city must be established as soon as possible, as most civilians are unable to flee and surrounded by Isis snipers, landmines and the threat of bombing."

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