Fortified fleet of IS suicide vehicles captured by Iraqi forces
Iraqi forces capture explosives which were not used as the fight to recapture Mosul has fragmented jihadists across the city.
Thursday 1 June 2017 06:10, UK
Footage has emerged of dozens of vehicles reinforced by Islamic State to be used in deadly suicide attacks.
The vehicles were captured near the Old City in battle-torn Mosul, where IS jihadists are attempting to repel Iraqi forces trying to recapture the city.
A video released by police shows lines of cars and trucks covered in sheets of metal to shield suicide attackers from gunfire.
Others were shaped to resemble tanks, with one appearing to have a makeshift turret hatch.
Iraqi Federal Police commander Shaker Jawdat said forces captured explosives which had not been used as the fight to recapture the city has fragmented jihadists into separate cells.
It is not the first time Iraqi forces have captured vehicles altered by IS fighters.
In March, Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford was shown a bulldozer which jihadists adapted into a killing machine.
Fortified cameras were attached to the front, right side and rear, all of which linked up to a monitor by the driver's seat.
The vehicle was also reinforced with steel and a heavy metal door.
In recent weeks, an estimated 160,000 civilians have fled Mosul as jihadists put up resistance in areas of the city they still hold.
On Wednesday, IS fighters closed the streets around Grand al-Nuri Mosque in preparation for a final showdown with Iraqi forces.
Dozens of militants were spotted taking up positions around the mosque, the site where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate in July 2014.
The UN warned the showdown had created a "very desperate situation" for the 180,000 to 200,000 civilians who remain in jihadist-held areas.