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Image: An Iraqi refugee girl waits with her parents to buy food from a local vendor behind the fence of the Khazir refugee camp near the Kurdish checkpoint of Aski Kalak

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The Battle for Mosul Takes Toll on Civilians

As Iraqi Special Forces and militias try to push the ISIS fighters from Mosul, many civilians are displaced, injured or killed.

/ 18 PHOTOS
Image: An Iraqi refugee girl waits with her parents to buy food from a local vendor behind the fence of the Khazir refugee camp near the Kurdish checkpoint of Aski Kalak

An Iraqi refugee girl waits with her parents to buy food from a local vendor behind the fence of the Khazir refugee camp near the Kurdish checkpoint of Aski Kalak, 25 miles west of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on Nov. 21, 2016.

— THOMAS COEX / AFP - Getty Images
Image: Workers tasked with putting out the fire in an oil well, set ablaze by retreating Islamic State (IS) jihadists, assemble a water pipeline in the town of Qayyarah

Workers tasked with putting out the fire in an oil well, set ablaze by retreating ISIS jihadists, assemble a water pipeline in the town of Qayyarah, some 44 miles south of Mosul on Nov. 20. Firefighters and engineers pumped water into the well in an effort to stop the fire.

— ODD ANDERSEN / AFP - Getty Images
Image: IRAQ-CONFLICT

A member of the Hashd Al Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Units), looks towards the direction of incoming snipper fire at Tal Afar airport, on Nov. 20. Pro-government paramilitary forces advancing on the town of Tal Afar, which commands the city's western approaches, entered its airport, while troops moving up from the south had the Mosul airport in their sights.

— ACHILLEAS ZAVALLIS / AFP - Getty Images
Image:

An Iraqi family sits inside a car as they wait at a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, on Nov. 20. Iraqi troops on Sunday fortified their positions in Mosul neighborhoods retaken from ISIS as their advance toward the city center was slowed by sniper fire and suicide bombings, as well as concern over the safety of civilians.

— Felipe Dana / AP
Image: An Iraqi special forces soldier walks in front of humvees destroyed by an Islamic State suicide car bomb attack during clashes in Mosul

An Iraqi special forces soldier walks in front of humvees destroyed by an ISIS suicide car bomb attack during clashes in Mosul, on Nov. 19.

— GORAN TOMASEVIC / Reuters
Image: People wait for food donated by an Iraqi government organisation at the outskirts of Mosul

People wait for food donated by an Iraqi government organisation at the outskirts of Mosul on, Nov. 20.

— GORAN TOMASEVIC / Reuters
Image: A girl displaced by fighting in and around Mosul sits next to a fire at a boundary of Kurdish territory near Bashiqa

A girl displaced by fighting in and around Mosul sits next to a fire at a boundary of Kurdish territory near Bashiqa on Nov. 18.

— GORAN TOMASEVIC / Reuters
Image: Iraqis fleeing the Aden area of Mosul wave white flags as they approach a position held by the Iraqi Special Force

Iraqis fleeing the Aden area of Mosul wave white flags as they approach a position held by the Iraqi Special Forces' second division in Mosul's eastern district of Karkukli, on Nov.18.

— ODD ANDERSEN / AFP - Getty Images
Image: Iraqi men drop their pants before being allowed to approach a position held by the Iraqi Special Forces' second division in Mosul's eastern district of Karkukli

Iraqi men drop their pants before being allowed to approach a position held by the Iraqi Special Forces' second division in Mosul's eastern district of Karkukli, on Nov. 18.

— ODD ANDERSEN / AFP - Getty Images
Image:Soldiers from the Iraqi Special Forces' second division round up men to check their identity in Mosul's eastern district of Karkukli

Soldiers from the Iraqi Special Forces' second division round up men to check their identity in Mosul's eastern district of Karkukli, on Nov. 18. The group of men was taken to a mosque in the newly retaken area for ID checks by the army's intelligence unit and the federal police.

— ODD ANDERSEN / AFP - Getty Images
Image: Iraqi 18-month old Jassem is comforted by an army medic while being treated for shrapnel head injuries

Iraqi 18-month old Jassem is comforted by an army medic while being treated for shrapnel head injuries at an Iraqi Special Forces 2nd division open air field clinic in the Samah neighbourhood of Mosul, on Nov. 17.
— ODD ANDERSEN / AFP - Getty Images
Image: Mosul resident Hassan suffering shrapnel wounds to his upper body cries out for his son

Mosul resident Hassan suffering shrapnel wounds to his upper body cries out for his son, 18-month-old Jassem being treated for head injuries at an Iraqi Special Forces 2nd division open air field clinic in the Samah neighborhood of Mosul, on Nov. 17. Iraqi forces have broken into jihadist-held Mosul and recaptured neighborhoods inside the city, but a month into their offensive, there are still weeks or more of potentially heavy fighting ahead. The medical point saw a spike in patients with dozens coming through in a few hours among them several children and 5 fatalities.
— ODD ANDERSEN / AFP - Getty Images
Image: Women wait for food donated by an Iraqi government organisation at the outskirts of Mosul

Women wait for food donated by an Iraqi government organisation at the outskirts of Mosul, on Nov. 20.
— GORAN TOMASEVIC / Reuters
Image: The body of an Islamic State fighter hangs in Mosul

The body of an ISIS fighter hangs in Mosul, on Nov. 19.
— GORAN TOMASEVIC / Reuters
Image: The body of 19-year-old Berzan Ibrahim Khelil, who was killed by a mortar during fighting between the Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants is carried to a cemetery on a cart by his cousin in Mosu

The body of 19-year-old Berzan Ibrahim Khelil, who was killed by a mortar during fighting between the Iraqi forces and ISIS militants is carried to a cemetery on a cart by his cousin in Mosul, on Nov. 17. As the operation to retake Mosul enters its second month Iraqi forces are preparing for prolonged, grueling urban combat as they slow the tempo of their operation, advancing just a few hundred meters at a time. The individual tactics employed by IS mirror past fights with the group, but the sheer scale of IS defenses and counterattacks in Mosul has overwhelmed Iraq's military.
— Felipe Dana / AP
Image: People run in panic after a coalition airstrike hit Islamic State fighters positions in Tahrir neighbourhood of Mosul

People run in panic after a coalition airstrike hit ISIS fighters' positions in Tahrir neighborhood of Mosul, on Nov. 17.
— GORAN TOMASEVIC / Reuters
Image: Detained Suspects, Iraq.

Men suspected of being ISIS militants sit in the back of a truck after being detained by the Iraqi Army in the Ninevah Plains of northern Iraq.
— Martyn Aim / Redux
Image: A car bomb explodes next to Iraqi Special Forces armored vehicles as they advance towards Islamic State held territory in Mosul, Iraq

A car bomb explodes next to Iraqi Special Forces armored vehicles as they advance towards ISIS held territory in Mosul, on Nov. 16. Troops have established a foothold in the city's east from where they are driving northward into the Tahrir neighborhood. The families in Tahrir are leaving their homes to flee the fighting.
— Felipe Dana / AP
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