Iraq: IS dig countless tunnels under captured cities

Written by David Fletcher 18 Mar 2016
Iraq: IS dig countless tunnels under captured cities

Kurdish forces recapturing cities from Islamic State in Iraqi Kurdistan have discovered incredible tunnel networks which jihadists use as escape routes. In the Yazidi city of Sinjar, seventy tunnels have already been discovered. The narrow tunnels, less than a metre wide, could be as deep as nine metres under the surface. They are equipped with electric lighting and basic amenities. Some are fortified underground command and communication centres, some are rigged with explosives. A news correspondent travelled to Al Anbar province and flew over abandoned IS positions near Fallujah, where they filmed entrances to some of the IS tunnels. There are tunnels running all across this region. In some areas the infrastructure has been made unsafe by them.

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