ISIS fanatics are trapped and will be obliterated in Mosul where ‘nowhere is safe’, top US envoy warns
Anti-terror troops on verge of liberating Iraqi city will 'make sure these guys cannot escape'
ISIS thugs holding the Iraqi city of Mosul hostage have been warned they are days away from being wiped out by advancing coalition liberators.
Iraqi government troops fighting alongside anti-ISIS militias have now taken a third of the western half of the city — the last major terror stronghold in the country.
The jihadists "are trapped", said Brett McGurk, the US envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition.
"Just last night, the 9th Iraqi army division... cut off the last road out of Mosul" he reported.
And in a stark warning to the sick terrorists, he added: "Any of the fighters who are left in Mosul, they're going to die there.
"We are very committed to not just defeating them in Mosul, but making sure these guys cannot escape."
Coalition forces aided by US-led airstrikes began the operation to retake the city in October.
After months of intense fighting Iraqi special forces crossed into western Mosul last week, marking a decisive victory that spells the end of the terrorists' grip on the city.
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Staff Major General Maan al-Saadi of the elite Counter-Terrorism Service said ISIS resistance "has begun to weaken in a big way".
But commanders warned that the fight is not over yet.
"The battle is not easy... we are fighting an irregular enemy who hides among the citizens and uses tactics of booby-trapping, explosions and suicide bombers", Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said.
He added that protecting citizens' lives is a priority.
They have been seen evacuating in droves to avoid desperate fighters using them as human shields.
IS seized Mosul in mid-2014 and swept across areas north and west of Baghdad, taking control of swathes of territory and declaring a "caliphate" straddling the border with Syria.
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