ISIL shoots down Iraqi helicopter in Mosul, killing two army pilots

An Iraqi army helicopter is seen flying over the outskirts of western Mosul on April 6, 2017, during an offensive to retake the city from ISIL. Ahmad Gharabli / AFP

ERBIL // Two Iraqi army pilots were killed on Thursday when ISIL shot down their helicopter over Mosul, according to the military.

The helicopter was providing air support to federal police forces battling ISIL fighters on the western side of the city.

It is the first aircraft downed by ISIL over Mosul since the start of the US-backed offensive on the northern Iraqi city in October.

“Their helicopter aircraft was attacked by enemy fire and destroyed on the battlefield,” Iraq’s Joint Operations Command said in a statement.

It did not specify what type of helicopter was shot down, nor say whether it was hit by gunfire or a surface-to-air missile.

ISIL’s Amaq news agency said the helicopter crashed in Al Ghabat, east of the Tigris river which runs through Mosul. The Iraqi military statement also located the crash on the eastern side, which was recaptured from the militants in January, after 100 days of fighting.

The insurgents are putting up stiff resistance in the remaining district under their control in northwestern Mosul and the densely populated Old City on the west bank of the Tigris.

The militants are dug in surrounded by civilians, effectively using them as human shields and taking advantage of the narrow streets of the Old City which restrict the movements of the Iraqi forces and limit the use of artillery and air power.

On Wednesday, a senior US military officer said American intelligence agencies don’t know the true number of foreign militants still fighting in Iraq and Syria, or the extent of the threat they pose to their home countries.

Some 40,000 foreign militants have joined ISIL in Iraq and Syria from at least 120 countries in Europe, Africa and South-east Asia, General Michael Nagata said at Washington’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

“We know we have killed several thousands of foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria,” said Gen Nagata, director of the National Counterterrorism Center’s Directorate for Strategic Operational Planning.

“But we are unable to give you a precise number. It’s a substantial number.”

Estimating the security threat they pose their home countries on their return is also problematic, he said.

“ISIS and the foreign terrorist fighter problem is not a monolith,” he said. “It’s an incredibly diverse set of actors with an incredibly diverse set of motivations.”

* Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse