BAGHDAD // ISIL militants fighting to hold on to their Mosul stronghold have displayed the crucified bodies of five people they said gave information to “the enemy”, and are back on the city streets policing the length of men’s beards, residents say.
The five bodies were put on display at a road junction, a clear message to the city’s remaining 1.5 million residents that the extremists are still in charge, despite losing territory to the east of the Iraqi city.
It came as the International organisation for Migration said nearly 42,000 people had fled their homes since the start of the operation to recapture Mosul from ISIL on October 17.
Thousands of ISIL fighters have run the city – the largest under their control – since conquering large parts of northern Iraq in 2014.
They are now battling a 100,000-strong coalition of fighters that includes Iraqi troops, security forces, Kurdish peshmerga and mainly Shiiite paramilitary groups. This coalition has almost surrounded the city and broken into eastern neighbourhoods.
Residents said on Tuesday night that many parts of the city were calmer than they had been for days, which was allowing people to venture out for food. This was true even in areas where there had been heavy fighting in previous days.
“I went out in my car for the first time since the start of the clashes in the eastern districts,” said one Mosul resident. “I saw some of the Hisba elements of Daesh checking people’s beards and clothes and looking for smokers”.
ISIL’s Hisba force, or morality police, imposes the extremists’ interpretation of Islamic behaviour. It forbids smoking, says women should be veiled and wear gloves, and bans men from Western-style dress including jeans and logos.
Hisba units patrol the city in specially marked vehicles.
“It looks like they want to prove their presence after they disappeared for the last 10 days, especially on the eastern bank,” the resident said.
Iraqi military officials say they have sources inside the city who are helping them identify ISIL positions for targeting by the US-led air coalition supporting the campaign, which is also backed by American troops on the ground.
The gruesome public display of the bodies in east Mosul appeared to be a warning against other potential informers.
“I saw five corpses of young men which had been crucified at a road junction in east Mosul,” not far from districts which had seen heavy fighting, said another resident.
“The Daesh people hung the bodies out and said that these were agents passing news to the infidel forces and apostates,” he said referring to the Western allies backing the campaign and the Shiite-led government of prime minister Haider Al Abadi.
In another sign of a clampdown on contact with the outside world, one retired policeman said ISIL officials were trying to inspect Sim cards to check on all communications.
“I went to get my pension as usual, but the man at the office refused to give it to me unless I handed over my Sim card,” said the 65-year-old man, who gave his name as Abu Ali, said. The relative quiet may reflect a reduction in fighting since Iraq’s special forces first broke into eastern Mosul a week ago. They faced fierce resistance, and have not sought to make any major advance since then.
One witness said traffic had almost returned to normal in most parts of eastern Mosul and that markets were operating, although were not as busy as before the start of military operations.
* Reuters, with additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
