Taking them out one-by-one: Secret sniper wages one-man war against ISIS

Baghdad: Mosul’s mysterious sniper has struck yet again in the embattled city, this time killing a jihadist who was preparing to execute a 15-year-old boy accused of supporting a resistance movement.

As Iraqi forces inch-on to the besieged city of Mosul, the marks-man is waging a one-man war against the terror group, shooting down jihadis with accurate precision.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, the unidentified man, famous as ‘Sniper of Mosul’, has already a long list of clean-shots to his credit in four different regions of the city. The sharp-shooter reportedly targets the militants as hey are on patrol in the city’s streets.

In his latest shot, the deadeye shot a jihadist in a busy square, as he was preparing to behead a teenage boy accused of supporting the resistance movement. Following the killing, confused ISIS supporters randomly opened fire, but the unknown sniper had already fled.

While the media reports also indicate the possibility of more than one sniper at work, the emergence of the ‘Sniper of Mosul’ has improved the morale of the resistence groups in the city manifold, with many reports claiming that local groups are forming militia to fight ISIS.

Mosul, in North western Iraq is one of the major stronghold of ISIS in the country, and is the second most important city under the militants after their de-facto capital of Raqqa in Syria.

Meanwhile the Iraqi forces advancing on the city have paused its week-long advance as it approached the city's eastern edge on Tuesday, waiting for other U.S.-backed forces to close in.

On the ninth day of the offensive on Mosul, government forces and allied Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are still fighting their way towards the outer limits of the northern city, in the early stages of an assault which could become the biggest military operation in Iraq in over a decade.

The combat ahead is likely to be more difficult and deadly because of the presence of civilians. Some 1.5 million residents remain in the city and worst-case forecasts see up to a million being uprooted, according to the United Nations.

UN aid agencies said the fighting has so far forced about 9,000 to flee their homes.

UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said Islamic State fighters have also reportedly killed scores of people around Mosul in the last week.