Iraqi troops launch offensive to liberate Mosul from Islamic State (29 images)

Iraqi security forces and Kurdish Peshmerga troops are now two weeks into their military campaign to root out Islamic State jihadists from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. As government forces entered the strategic city, retreating ISIS soldiers have lit fire to the surrounding oil fields, scorching the sky above.

Iraqi civilians flee from fighting while the smoke rise in the background from burning oil fields which was damaged during the fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic state fighters(IS) in Qayara town, some 50 kilometres south of Mosul, northern Iraq. Tuesday, November. 01, 2016. Photo by Murat Bay/UPI

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Iraqi civilians flee from fighting while the smoke rise in the background from burning oil fields which was damaged during the fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic state fighters(IS) in Qayara town, some 50 kilometres south of Mosul, northern Iraq. Tuesday, November. 01, 2016. Photo by Murat Bay/UPI

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Peshmerga soldiers take positions of attack against the Islamic State militants in the area in Dohuk, north of Mosul, during an operation to attack ISIS fighters in the northern Iraqi city on October 20, 2016. The U.N. on Friday emphasized that civilians must be protected in the battle of Mosul. Photo by Shvan Harki/UPI

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Iraqi civilians flee from fighting while the smoke rise in the background from burning oil fields which was damaged during the fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic state fighters(IS) in Qayara town, some 50 kilometres south of Mosul, northern Iraq. Tuesday, November. 01, 2016. Photo by Murat Bay/UPI

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