Islamic State Mosul liberation: Half-naked fanatics dragged ‘like rats’

VICTORIOUS Iraqi forces pull Islamic State fighters from the rubble as Mosul falls. But Coalition forces warn there’s more where they came from.

ISLAMIC State fighters continue to be dragged from the rubble in Mosul as Iraqi authorities warned many more will die before they flush the terror group from the city.

The video, taken amid the ruins of Mosul, showed several IS militants emerging from their boltholes.

With their hands bound, they carefully step across the rubble of the Old City — the group’s last redoubt, destroyed by nine months of fighting, The Sun reported.

One hobbled along on crutches as the video branded the men “ISIS rats”.

Authorities fear that many hundreds of fighters could remain hidden amid the ruins, ready to take Iraqi forces with them in suicidal ambushes.

Video footage shows several suspected ISIS fighters emerging from hiding.

It is also feared that hundreds of buildings have been booby-trapped with explosives by sadistic jihadis.

US Army man-on-the-ground Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend said: “There are bypassed holdouts.

“We haven’t cleared every building in this city, the size of Philadelphia.

“That’s going to have to be done, and there are also hidden IEDs — improvised explosive devices.

“There are still going to be losses from the Iraqi security forces as they continue to secure Mosul.”

A man suspected of being an Islamic State militant is detained by the Iraqi Army in Mosul last week. Picture: Martyn Aim/Corbis/Getty Images

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared Mosul had finally been retaken from IS on Monday.

But by the following day the US was forced into renewed air strikes after militants were spotted with rocket launchers and machine guns within the perimeters of the city.

More than a thousand Iraqi soldiers are known to have died in the ferocious fighting that was launched in October.

Thousands more IS militants are believed to have been killed.

An Iraqi man, believed to be a possible Islamic State militant, is questioned and searched, in Mosul last month. Picture: Martyn Aim/Getty Images

But it is the civilians of the city who have carried the greatest burden.

Most estimates put the death toll at around 7000 with many thousands more maimed and injured.

As many as one million civilians have been driven from their homes by the conflict.

This article has been republished with permission from The Sun.