To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Sky News Team Narrowly Escape A Suicide Bombing In Mosul

Sky News Team Narrowly Escape A Suicide Bombing In Mosul

They were fleeing ISIS snipers.

Josh Teal

Josh Teal

A Sky News television crew have narrowly dodged a suicide bombing in Mosul.

Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay and his team had been running away from sniper fire on the front line in the war-torn city in northern Iraq.

"Stuart Ramsay is at the front of the offensive along with cameraman Nathan Hale and security adviser Mike Mawhinney," Sky News said.

"On Wednesday, they were forced to shelter inside a vehicle as a huge explosion rocked the nearby area and then run across open ground covered by IS snipers when their position came under heavy fire."

Video: Sky News

It is believed a nearby digger came to their rescue just seconds before the bomb. Ramsay said: "Sometimes you have to run into a front line, even though your brain is screaming 'don't go'.

"[We] Dismounted from armoured Humvees in this sniper-filled battle space, there is no choice.

"We're basically hiding in rubble now, trying to find a way to get out of here. At the moment it's impossible to move, there's just too much action taking place."

It follows footage of an Iraqi soldier blocking a suicide bomber in the street last week.

The footage, filmed on an ISIS drone and uploaded to the internet, shows a car bomb erratically approaching a group of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Unit forces trying to retake the city.

The bomber's car explodes just as it reaches the Humvee.

The battle of Mosul has been ongoing since last October, but the initial takeover began in January 2014.

A few days ago, it was reported that Iraqi resistance forces had recaptured the city's main government complex, central bank branch and museum - where priceless statues were being wilfully destroyed.

They also seized a court building notorious for its barbaric sentences, including chopping off hands, throwing people off roofs and stoning.

US Brigadier General Matthew Isler told Reuters that some of ISIS' foreign fighters are attempting to flee Mosul.

"The game is up," he said. "They have lost this fight and what you're seeing is a delaying action."

Last month, footage showing a botched suicide bombing attempt by an ISIS solider.

The ISIS solider detonated his bomb, but wasn't close enough to the Syrian rebels to take anybody else out with him.

The incident is believed to have happened in Raqqa as the two groups continue to battle it out for key cities.

In the video, which was shared by news agency Qasioun, the man can be seen approaching a group of soldiers who are stood outside a building and detonating the bomb, although it would also make sense if it in fact detonated in error.

The smoke then clears and you can see that no one else has been injured in the blast.

This latest attack happened as soldiers continued with the ongoing Wraths of Euphrates operation, which has seen a number of violent clashes. It was launched by the Syrian Democratic Forces in opposition to ISIS and has been blocking key roads in Raqqa, with the aim of eventually cutting off resources completely.

Speaking about the Wraths of Euphrates operation, UK Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon told Reuters: "I hope that isolation will be completed by the spring and then operations to liberate Raqqa itself can begin thereafter.

"Raqqa is a much smaller city than Mosul but will clearly be defended very vigorously by Daesh [ISIS] and that means the operation to liberate Raqqa has to be very carefully prepared, as the operation for Mosul was.

"Once Raqqa is liberated after Mosul, we will see the beginning of the end of this terrible caliphate."

Source: Reuters, Sky News, and Express

Featured Image Credit: Sky News

Topics: terrorism, World News, ISIS