According to Abbar, the underground prison, containing more than a 1,000 inmates, among them captured Iraqi troops and police officers, was uncovered by joint forces providing security and removing explosives from the area.
Iraqi News quotes Abbar saying, "[Daesh] tortured and arrested thousands of Nineveh residents and committed many crimes against the citizens who violated its instructions," adding, "The detainees were freed and transferred to a safe destination."
Coalition forces have been advancing on Mosul, a Daesh stronghold since 2014, recently liberating the villages of al-Razaqiyah and Hawijah al-Hassan on Sunday.
Iraq's Joint Operations Command confirmed that Daesh’s head of military operations, Mohannad Hamed al-Makani, otherwise known as Abu Aisha al-Bilawi, was killed with a number of his aides in an Iraqi Air Force strike. Troops were also able to disrupt supply lines to the jihadists in the northern district of al-Sadah.
There are reports of the militants using human shields to slow the advance of opposition forces. Coalition spokesman Col. John Dorrian told The Star on Saturday that "Daesh have continued to hide behind civilians and facilitate harm to them," adding that the Iraqi forces have "developed a plan that is intended to reduce the possibility of civilian casualties and collateral damage."
