The Battle For The Iraqi City Of Mosul -- News Updates May 6, 2017

Reuters: Flooding forces Mosul residents to flee war in rickety boats

The Iraqi man laid the body of his wife, wrapped in a black shroud, gently on the bow of a small wooden boat and held onto it as a second man rowed slowly to pick up the man's three children standing a few meters away.

The two teenage girls and young boy climbed in, careful not to disturb the balance, for the crossing taking their mother, killed in an air strike this week, to the east bank of the Tigris River.

This crossing is no ancient rite, however.

It is an extra hardship heaped on the family by the flooding of the Tigris and the disassembly of the last pontoon bridge linking the two sides of Mosul, where U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have been fighting to oust the Islamic State militants who seized the city in 2014.

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The Battle For The Iraqi City Of Mosul -- News Updates May 6, 2017

Iraqi forces gain ground northwest of Mosul after intensive fighting, army -- RUDAW
Iraqi troops declare full liberation of Mesherfa region, western Mosul -- Iraqi News
In Mosul, hunger grows amid slow advances against IS -- FOX news
Life after Isis: People of Mosul tell of horrors under the rule of 'the devil's murderers' -- The Independent
Smoke-filled pool halls are back in Mosul. After ISIS, ‘we seek joy.’ -- Washington Post
Mosul Dam No Longer on Brink of Catastrophe -- VOA
Mosul races against time to restore electricity before summer heat waves -- RUDAW