Soldiers Retreat after Bloody Battles in Mosul; 229 Killed in Iraq

An anonymous Pentagon official estimates that the U.S. military has killed about 50,000 Islamic State militants since the start of operations two years ago.

New details of the ferocious battle for a hospital in Mosul were leaked out on Thursday. An Iran-Iraq War veteran living near the scene described the fighting as violent and untraditional. Troops had to retreat from another district as well. Meanwhile, police fired shots to try to control an unruly crowd at a U.N. aid distribution center in Mosul.

At least 229 were killed and 136 were wounded:

The number of dead in the airstrike on Qaim yesterday has risen by 70 dead to at total of 130 killed. About 100 more were wounded. The military denied the accusation that Iraqi airstrikes killed civilians. Because militants hold the town, independent confirmation is impossible.

Militants executed 10 people in Anah.

In Mosul, at least 30 more people were reported wounded or killed in yesterday’s battle near the Salam hospital; at least 10 more suicide bombers were reported killed.

A bomb in Rashidiya killed one person and wounded six more.

A sniper shot dead a Peshmerga member in Daquq.

Security forces killed 56 militants in Tal Abta.

Thirty militants were killed in Kanous.

Twelve militants were killed in Shirqat.

Another 12 were killed in Adhba.

A strike near the Tal Afar airport left 10 militants dead.

In Riyadh, a bomb inside a tunnel killed five militants.

Three suicide bombers were killed near Dour.

An airstrike killed three militants near Qaim, while resistance forces killed four more.

Author: Margaret Griffis

Margaret Griffis is a journalist from Miami Beach, Florida and has been covering Iraqi casualties for Antiwar.com since 2006.