ISIS thugs create toxic smoke cloud the size of LONDON as panicked jihadis torch oil wells while fleeing terror city Mosul

CLOUDS of toxic smoke are blocking out the sun as ISIS jihadis set fire to oil fields as they flee Mosul.

Babies are struggling to breath due to the fumes with charity Oxfam slamming the "smoke-filled hell" that families are being forced to live in.

Nineteen oil wells were set ablaze by the jihadis in the Qayarrah area, south of Mosul, after the radicals are pushed out of the city by Iraqi forces.

But the toxic smoke caused by the oil fires has left children covered in soot while those living near the oil fields have reported burning in their throat and lungs.

Concerns have also been raised that the people who lived through two years of trauma under ISIS control are now having to live without clean water, food and medicine.

The problems come as satellite pictures reveal that ISIS fanatics are desperate not to let go of the city that was once their stronghold.

Aerial images of Mosul appear to show huge blockades in the streets, with the jihadis digging in their heels against Iraqi forces.

The images also appear to show parts of the city bulldozed with radical fighters using the tactic to fight off Iraqi forces.

A 67-year-old man in Qayarrah said that burning oil wells were threatening the health of locals.

He said: "We need someone to put out the fires.

"They have been burning for several months now."

Oxfam's country director in Iraq Andres Gonzalez said: "Even after ISIS has left, many of the people living amid its trail of destruction have told us that life remains unbearable.

"Burning oil wells continue to spew out toxic fumes that burn people's throats and turn their communities into a smoke-filled hell.

"The Iraqi government needs to tell citizens what is being done to put out these fires and to avoid a potentially bigger crisis in Mosul."

Charity Oxfam has now called on the Iraqi government to extinguish the oil well fires, pushing for external forces to potentially assist the effort.

In a statement, Oxfam said: "With six oil fields surrounding Mosul still under ISIS control, the government must plan for a potentially bigger crisis involving more than a million civilians in Mosul."

The UN has previously warned of a possible humanitarian crisis that could unfold should the hundreds of thousands of locals in Mosul be forced to relocate during clashes between Iraq forces and ISIS.

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