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		</div><p>Female Islamic State militants are using children as human shields as the extremist group defends its last corner of Mosul&#8217;s Old City against Iraqi troops, the military has said. The militants&#8217; use of human shields has repeatedly slowed Iraqi advances throughout the near-nine-month offensive to retake the country&#8217;s second largest city, and Iraqi commanders&#8217; frustration was on display as they watched surveillance footage from the front lines.</p>
<p>&#8220;The women are fighting with their children right beside them,&#8221; Lieutenant General Sami al-Aridi said as he was briefed by an officer holding a tablet computer showing drone imagery.<br />
&#8220;It&#8217;s making us hesitant to use air strikes, to advance. If it weren&#8217;t for this we could be finished in just a few hours.&#8221;</p>
<p>Another officer in the command post suggested using Iraqi artillery, which would not require approval from the US-led coalition. &#8220;They&#8217;re all Daesh, just kill them all,&#8221; the commander said, referring to the IS group by its Arabic acronym. &#8220;There are civilians there, but they are Daesh families,&#8221; said another officer. Neither would agree to speak on the record, in line with military regulations.</p>
<p>&#8220;For a child, even if his father is a criminal, what has he done?&#8221; Lt Gen al-Aridi said. &#8220;At the same time, my men are still taking casualties. We had 14 wounded today already.&#8221; Women have also carried out suicide bombings against Iraqi forces. Three female suicide bombers hiding among fleeing civilians have killed at least three soldiers over the past week.</p>
<p>Prime minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated his forces on their &#8220;big victory&#8221; in Mosul on Tuesday, as they appeared to be on the verge of driving the militants from their last stronghold, but the grinding, house-by-house fighting continues. It is unclear how many civilians remain in the militants&#8217; last enclave, which is less than one square kilometre, but the UN says 2,000 to 3,500 people have been fleeing on a daily basis.</p>
<p>The battle to retake Mosul has already forced 87,000 people from their homes, according to the UN.<br />
IS militants captured the entire city in a matter of days in summer 2014, when they swept across northern and central Iraq. Iraqi forces, with the help of a US-led coalition, have since retaken most of that territory, and view Mosul as a decisive battle.</p>
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