How is the attack on the largest city of IG and what is happening with its inhabitants. Photo report by Maria Turchchenkova
In October 2016, a battle for Mosul began in Iraq - a military operation to liberate the city from the militants of the Islamic State. Mosul is the largest city under the control of IG. The offensive on the city is carried out by the forces of the Iraqi army and the Kurdish detachments with the support of the international coalition led by the United States. The advancing forces, according to some estimates, surpass the forces of the militants by 10 times, but they move deep into the city very slowly-including because of the presence of a large number of civilians in the mosul. The photographer Maria Turchenkova visited Mosul to document the liberation of the city and understand how the fate of its inhabitants will now take shape.
Photo: Maria Turchchenkova Balcony of a residential building in the city of Gayara (60 kilometers from Mosul). Gayara was repelled from IG in August 2016. Retreating, the militants set fire to oil wells in the city and the surroundings Photo: Maria Turchenkova District Saddam in the east of Mosula. About 74,000 inhabitants left the city after the start of the operation to release Photo: Maria Turchchenkova Soldiers of the Golden Division (special forces of the Iraqi Army) after the destruction of the mined car left by militants retreating from the Saddam region Photo: Maria Turchchenkova Women at the entrance to the court in Gayara Photo: Maria Turchchenkova Residents of Shor (a city 30 kilometers from Mosul), who got to Gayar on foot, are waiting for the Iraqi propulsion for involvement in the IG before sending refugees to the camp Photo: Maria Turchchenkova residents of the surroundings of Mosul, who lived in the territory controlled by IG for two years. Suleiman says that he independently took their family out of 24 people to a safe territory, now they live in a Khazar refugee camp Photo: Maria Turchchenkova civilians who left the areas of Mosul, controlled by the IG, and reached the Iraqi military, are transported to a refugee camp Photo: Maria Turchenkova Twelve -year -old Murad, wounded a few days ago during the mortar shelling of Mosul, and his cousin Zainab was forced to leave their house with his family Photo: Maria Turchchenkova members of the Sunni tribal militia in Gayara Photo: Maria Turchchenkova employees of the Iraq federal police on the territory of the agricultural college in Al-Ali Hammams in the vicinity of Mosul. On the territory of the college, more than 200 bodies of the victims executed by the IG militants before the retreat were discovered Photo: Maria Turchchenkova House in Gayara, blown up by Iraqi military. It is believed that accomplices of IG lived here. Inscriptions on the walls: "ISIS - the killer of the innocent", "blood for blood" Photo: Maria Turchchenkova suspects of the complicity of IS near the court of the court in Gayara. Five of the seven men were justified by the court decision; Two were found guilty, they were facing the death penalty Photo: Maria Turchchenkova Children play with electric wires in the city of Gayara Photo: Maria Turchchenkova Iraqi military on the outskirts of the village of Hammam al-Ali Photo: Maria Turchchenkova toxic smoke from the hardened oil wells fills Gayar and the surroundings and covers everything with a layer of black dust
