Iraqis take to streets for costly triumph

MOSUL, Iraq-Gunfire echoes through the pockmarked streets as Maj. Ihab Jalil al-Aboudi's soldiers fight block by block for the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, occasionally pausing to help terrified families flee to safety across the rubble.

Associated Press reporters accompanied his forces for three weeks in May as they battled Islamic State militants in neighborhoods around Mosul's Old City, part of a massive offensive launched in October that Iraqi commanders hope to finally complete in the coming days.

Driving the Islamic State from Iraq's second largest city would hand a major defeat to the extremist group three years after it swept across much of northern and central Iraq. But victory has come at a heavy cost for Mosul's residents and the soldiers fighting to liberate them from the extremists' rule.

On a hot afternoon, al-Aboudi helped a group of civilians-men, women and children-navigate a narrow escape corridor opened up by his forces.

"Thank God for your safety," he said, over and over again, as he handed them bottles of water. "Lift your veils!" another soldier called out, signaling to the women that they were no longer bound by the IS group's harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

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