Five ISIS chiefs steal millions from terror group’s coffers and flee with hitmen on their trail as Mosul burns
Traitors heading for Syria with their huge stash of IS treasury cash will be executed on sight if run to ground
FIVE IS chiefs have stolen millions of dollars from the terror group's treasury in Iraq and are on the run to Syria with an execution squad in hot pursuit.
The rogue outfit includes IS treasury official Abu al-Bara al-Qahtani and they hold senior positions among the extremist group.
Al Sumaria News reported the Arab and foreign nationals would be executed if caught.
The robbery in Mosul comes as Iraqi forces continue to push ISIS out of the city, their last major stronghold in the country.
Yesterday elite forces moved further into the centre amid fierce street fighting, .
Satellite pictures show IS has built huge defences to slow those advancing, including concrete barricades.
Iraqi forces also made inroads today in the town of Hammam al-Alil in the south, on the river Tigris.
And 32 IS fighters were killed or hurt when a booby-trapped vehicle blew up near the town of Kirkuk in the north.
Civilians displaced by the battle in Mosul have soared in recent days as more than a million are trapped in the city but a huge exodus has not happened as yet.
The elite Counter-Terrorism Service is waging war on the streets of Mosul. A spokesman said: "Our forces are now engaged in fierce fighting inside the neighbourhoods of east Mosul and the fighting is house to house."
CTS teams were greeted by an arsenal of bombs and firepower on Friday during their first real push into Mosul and within hours had to pull back partially.
An officer said: "We weren't expecting such resistance. They had blocked all the roads. It was preferable to pull back and devise a new plan."
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Last night an Irish jihadi from Dublin nicknamed Terry Taliban in his home city killed himself in a suicide attack in Mosul.
Fighting continued this morning, with the worst clashes in the al-Bakr neighbourhood, with snipers firing at one another from rooftops.
And dramatic footage shows oil fields south of Mosul burning fiercely, with men being rounded up for interrogation.
The offensive to retake Mosul has been going for almost three weeks. More than 3,000 Iraqi troops have taken part with US-led air cover. Thousands of Iraqis are in a refugee camp in Khazer after fleeing Mosul.
Aid agencies warn of a humanitarian disaster when fighting for Mosul is at its peak.
"They gave us blankets but it's not enough and the weather is very cold. We are 19 inside this tent," said Yunes Hassan, 53, in a camp east of the city.
Civilians who have got out have revealed the horrors as they dodged bombs to flee.
"There were snipers shooting, mortars crashing down, it was hell," said Abu Sara, 34, who managed to escape. "We walked several miles, taking with us only the clothes we were wearing and white flags we waved the entire way."
US President Barack Obama's envoy to the coalition, Brett McGurk, hailed the latest military developments on social media: "New advances on all axes. Ways to go, but ahead of schedule."
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