Journalist Owen Holdaway said the devastating impact of the conflict on innocent Iraqis hit home after the terrifying ordeal
A BRITISH journalist has described his heart-stopping brush with death when one of ISIS's deadly mortar rounds landed just feet away from him - but failed to explode.
Here, Owen Holdaway, who is reporting for The Sun from the conflict in Mosul, relives the terrifying experience - one which is being faced by innocent Iraqi families every day.
I was covering the ongoing fight against the so-called Islamic State in Mosul, embedding with the Federal Police in the Old Quarter of the city.
ISIS were about 100 metres away, and we were having to hide from their sniper positions in an abandoned shop.
Then out of the blue an ISIS mortar round fell within three feet of us.
The round landed with a massive thud, spraying up some concrete onto my leg and onto the face of an Iraqi journalist with me.
After the initial shock of the round falling subsided, the three Federal Police with us ushered us out of the shop and down the street, just in case it exploded.
Heading up the street, Ammar Alwaely, the local Iraqi journalist embedded with us, pulls me to the side and says we are “extremely lucky”, as the radius of the explosion would have likely killed us, or at the very least, severely injured us.
Although I did feel relieved at the fact I was not killed - and that ISIS has such useless and defective mortars - my attention soon shifted back to those civilians fleeing the conflict.
In the same street, Ammar and I see a mother holding her white handkerchief as she cries with her daughter.
It dawned on me that she, and many more of the estimated 750,000 civilians fleeing from this part of Mosul, would have experienced something similar - probably worse.
Covering this conflict as a foreign journalist and watching those affected by war is perhaps harder than having a close call.
I am almost certain I would have got my five minutes of fame if the mortar had exploded, but I am not sure whether that woman and her child would have got the same honour if they had died.
The following day I went to the recently-liberated train station, which was originally built by the British.
Speaking to another member of the Iraqi Federal Police, Ehad, I told him my story of what happened the day before.
His response confirmed what I had thought the day before.
“Yes that was a close call, but you know many people have been affected by this conflict," he says.
"It makes me want to cry, especially when I see the children.
"ISIS have ruined this country, and for what?"
I could not agree more.
Owen's terrifying experience happened as he was covering the conflict in northern Iraq on Wednesday.
As Iraqi forces push ISIS further into Mosul, the effect on the remaining civilians, particularly the children, is becoming unbearable, with jihadist forces using them as "human shields" instead of allowing them to escape.
While the Iraqi’s Federal Police’s fifth division are making advances, the area's ancient buildings and narrow streets are slowing them down.
Owen spoke to Commander Ali, head of the division in the area, about the struggles facing Iraqi forces.
Commander Ali said: "The battle is not an easy task. The fight against Daesh [Arabic term for ISIS] is very dangerous, but we are so committed to defeating them as we are in many places.
“The international community must understand that we are guarding against humanity.
"Daesh represents a threat to all human kind. It does not matter what colour, race or nationality you are.
"They are a cancer and must be destroyed."
He said ISIS was randomly firing mortars at civilians, with snipers shooting any families trying to flee.
But despite the struggles, the commander is optimistic that Iraqi forces will soon clear ISIS from this part of the city.
He said: "We are very close to the Mosque [where Al-Baghdadi declared the caliphate] and within a few days we hope to take it.”
One refugee, who has recently fled ISIS, broke down in tears as she spoke.
She said: "Life was so hard here, many civilians got killed by ISIS mortars and bombs."
Hugging her child against the wall, she added: “We have lost everything, and need help.”
Sadly for many refugees, this help is not yet getting through.
As ISIS is pushed into the densely populated old quarter of the city, the number of civilians needing help is growing.
Doctor Ali, from Iraqi Red Crescent,has been distributing aid from a football field inside the city.
He said: "When the operation started [in West Mosul] we had only a few people fleeing from the left side.
“But as they have entered the densely populated old quarter, the number of civilians and their needs are only growing.
“The numbers are growing, and we can’t feed them all. The west needs and must provide more aid.
"It is only going to get worse as this operation continues."
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