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Gallery|Conflict

Hunting down ISIL sleeper cells in Mosul

Since retaking eastern Mosul from ISIL, Iraqi security forces have been working to apprehend the remaining fighters.

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Civilians watch as National Security Service (NSS) officers arrive at an abandoned ISIL bomb factory in eastern Mosul. Similar facilities have been found across eastern Mosul since ISIL was driven out. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]
By John Beck
Published On 24 Feb 201724 Feb 2017
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Mosul, Iraq – The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS) has been cleared from eastern Mosul for more than a month, but its fighters maintain a significant and sometimes deadly presence in the city.

Some ISIL fighters have shaved their beards, returned to their families and attempted to remain in Mosul unnoticed. Others have formed sleeper cells given the task of launching attacks on Iraqi forces and civilian targets – a return to the bloody tactics long employed by the group’s predecessors in Iraq.

Iraq’s National Security Service has been working to track down the remaining fighters, launching targeted raids into the city from their base on Mosul’s eastern outskirts. The intelligence operatives gather information from a network of local sources, then attempt to apprehend suspected ISIL members.

It is often a race against time. Since Iraqi troops retook eastern Mosul, which is separated from the ISIL-held west by the River Tigris, ISIL fighters have launched a series of attacks on civilian and military targets. In one, a suicide bomber blew himself up among the lunchtime patrons of one of the city’s best known popular restaurants, My Fair Lady, which reopened soon after Iraqi forces took the east.

Other blasts have targeted markets and checkpoints. ISIL fighters have also launched a series of attacks with weaponized drones, which have killed and maimed civilians and security officers.

Iraqi security forces are now launching several raids a week into the city and have arrested hundreds of suspects – but there remains much to be done, a task that will get even harder once the west of the city, now the subject of a renewed offensive by government forces, is retaken.

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An NSS officer monitors the sky for ISIL drones shortly after a drone attack on the convoy at a different location. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]
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A young boy seconds after a group of NSS officers stormed a house in search of an ISIL suspect. The intelligence operative subsequently apprehended two men in the area. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]
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Civilians hold up their hands as an NSS officer searches them, while his colleagues hunt for an ISIL suspect in a nearby house. Commanders said that trust between security forces and local residents was vital to secure a peaceful future for Mosul. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]
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NSS officers detain a suspected ISIL member in an east Mosul suburb as local residents look on. This was the first of a number of raids in the city that day, which netted six targets. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]
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An NSS officer kicks in the door of an east Mosul house where a suspected ISIL member is believed to be hiding, as scared local residents watch. Security forces went on to arrest a teenage boy as his family wailed in protest. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]
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Women watch as NSS officers withdraw from an east Mosul suburb where they have made two arrests. The suspects are then taken to a detention area at the NSS base just outside the city. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]
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A civilian kneels outside his east Mosul home, watched over by NSS officers as their colleagues search the area for suspected ISIL members. All military-aged males are treated with extreme caution by the intelligence operators. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]
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NSS officers enter the gates of an east Mosul home, where they hope to find a suspected ISIL member. Often they meet little or no resistance, but the men described pitched gunfights and explosions as they tried to apprehend suspects. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]
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An NSS officer drags a suspected ISIL fighter to a pickup truck. Commanders said that they had made dozens of arrests since eastern Mosul was liberated. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]
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An NSS officer stands guard outside an east Mosul home being raided as a young girl watches. The intelligence officers receive regular tip-offs and directions from local residents who know where the ISIL suspects will be hiding. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]
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An NSS officer binds the hands of a suspected ISIL member arrested minutes earlier. The suspects range from teenagers to elderly residents. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]
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NSS officers secure a young man suspected of being an ISIL fighter. Iraqi officials have set up special terror courts to deal with the vast numbers of people charged with links to the group. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]
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An NSS officer stands guard as his colleagues investigate a suspected ISIL car bomb factory. Commanders say they have found a number of weapons caches, including guns and explosives, in recent operations. [John Beck/Al Jazeera]


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