Iraqi Troops Advance in Mosul, Islamic State Leader Asks to Resist

Shiite Units of the People''s Mobilization (MP) cut today the route between Mosul ans the Syrian city of Raqqa, while the Islamic State Leader (IS), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi urged to resist until the end.

The deputy of the Parliamentary Commission for Defense and Security, Abdulaziz Hassan, said to have confirmation that the volunteers, members of the Al-Hashed al-Shaabi (Arab name of the MP) intensified their attacks against terrorists and cut the usual movement at the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Hassan denied reports by the media and Arab Governments of the Persian Gulf that attributed abuse and excess to those militia members against residents of villages around the capital of Ninive, where Assyrian Sunnis, Turkmen, Kurds and Christians coexist.

According to the legislator, it was a significant step forward regarding the advance into the center of Mosul, but the investigation by the legislative commission did not find any violation by the MP, as the UN and Western observers put forward.

Local media outlets gave credit today to an audio message circulated on the web by Al-Baghdadi, in which he called the IS extremists to 'fight and resist until the end' the charge from the Government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

The command of the international US-led coalition against the IS estimated that the number of terrorists, currently in the city of Ninive, was between 3,000 and 5,000, who have held or would possibly hold around 25,000 families to used them as human shields.

Residetns in the place confirmed the fears of the UN of kidnappings by the IS and forced concentration of people with that purpose, especially as the Army and the Counter-Terrorist Service gain ground towards the center of the city.