Two Iraqi journalists working for Hona Salaheddin television in a village south of Mosul were killed by Daesh (ISIS), the channel said Friday, as reports emerged of a fresh Daesh counterattack in Mosul.
Daesh infiltrated Imam Gharbi, the village south of the city, earlier in the week, seizing territory in the village. Iraqi security forces were fighting to oust the extremists, officers said.
"Colleague Harb Hazaa al-Dulaimi, correspondent for the Hona Salaheddin channel, and Sudad al-Duri, the cameraman for the same station, were martyred" in Imam Gharbi, the channel said.
Hona Salaheddin said another journalist was trapped in the village with the bodies of the two who were killed.
Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Saad Maan confirmed that two journalists were killed in the village and said that others were trapped in a house there along with police.
He said security forces were some two houses away from those trapped, but were being slowed by Daesh snipers.
The deaths come after three journalists were killed and a fourth wounded by an explosion last month in Mosul, where they were covering the battle to retake the city from Daesh.
An Iraqi officer says a "major" Daesh counterattack was launched along the northern edge of Mosul's Old City on Friday.
The attack has pushed Iraqi Army forces back some 75 meters and is threatening recent gains on other Old City fronts, he says.
The officer said the attack was launched just after noon Friday and estimated it was carried out by 50 to 100 Daesh fighters.
A doctor at a medic station said he received more than a dozen wounded Iraqi soldiers.
Both men spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Iraqi security forces have retaken almost all of Mosul - Iraq's second largest city - from Daesh militants who overran it in 2014.
While Daesh-held territory shrunk to less than one kilometer squared, the group continues to remain capable of launching counterattacks against Iraqi forces and insurgent attacks deep inside government-held territory.
Meanwhile, the U.N.'s migration agency says it has suspended operations in two camps near Mosul that host nearly 80,000 displaced Iraqis due to security concerns.
The International Organization for Migration on Friday announced the temporary suspension at the Qayara air strip emergency site and the Haj Ali camp amid sporadic violence and gunfire.
IOM spokesman Joel Millman said local staffers were instructed to stay home and not enter the camps following a curfew and restrictions on movement imposed by Iraqi authorities.
He said six water-tanker trucks commissioned by the Ministry of Displacement and Migration were prevented from entering the Haj Ali camp, where temperatures have reached the low 50s Celsius in recent days.
Government forces are trying to oust Daesh fighters from Mosul.
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