On the edge of the village of Al-Buseif, captured overnight from the Islamic State group by Iraqi forces advancing on western Mosul, a federal policeman signalled to fleeing civilians.

The small group of villagers, some carrying makeshift white flags, walked slowly along a dirt road in the valley below, metres (yards) from the western bank of the Tigris river.

They were the first civilians to approach Al-Buseif since it was captured late Monday, and the mood among security forces hovered between welcome and suspicion as the group walked closer.

Overhead a drone belonging to Iraq's Rapid Response force buzzed as it flew back and forth over the villagers, monitoring them for weapons or explosives.

As the handful of men and young boys arrived, the police ordered them to halt and lift their shirts to prove they weren't wearing explosive bomb belts.

Then two officers climbed over an earth berm and patted them down by hand, examining their ID cards before welcoming them into the village.

"We've been trapped at home for the last two days, we couldn't even go out because of the bombing," said Ibrahim Ahmed, 45.

He said Iraqi IS members had already fled his village of Khraybeh as the offensive began Sunday, but foreign fighters remained until Monday night.

"Last night they forced their way into the house to hide from the aircraft... they forced their way in at gunpoint," he told AFP.

His tiny village occupies part of the few kilometres (miles) now separating Iraqi forces from their next targets in the battle for Mosul, including Mosul airport.

After a four-month battle to capture eastern Mosul, Iraq's government announced the second phase of the battle for the city on Sunday.

So far a mixture of Iraqi army and police units are advancing from the south, moving quickly through the relatively unpopulated surrounding countryside.

- Displaced but relieved -

In Al-Buseif on Tuesday, the atmosphere was largely jovial and relaxed, despite the occasional boom of mortar fire and the shrapnel holes gouged into the walls of homes now commandeered by Iraqi forces.

Overhead warplanes roared in the blue sky, and the occasional column of smoke could be seen rising from Mosul in the distance.

Two policeman stood next to the remains of a dead IS fighter, whose body was partially covered with a blue tarp, and smiled as they photographed themselves with the corpse.

Another fighter walked casually along the edge of the village stroking a black-and-white rabbit he had found in a home.

But the units are on guard for the possibility of an IS counterattack or an attempt by the jihadists to infiltrate by hiding among fleeing civilians.

First Lieutenant Ahmed Najah of the elite Rapid Response unit was operating the small white drone that hovered over the arriving civilians looking for anything suspicious.

"The civilians you saw just now are the first displaced people who have come towards us," he said.

"We did surveillance with the drone to discover the enemy's movements... (and) we also saw the movement of the displaced towards us," he told AFP.

"We can also see if IS fighters are hiding among them... I try to lower the drone, I get it as low as possible to them, to see what they are carrying."

After checking the arrivals and offering them cigarettes and water, one soldier agreed to allow a villager to use his phone to call his relatives and tell them to leave.

The man shouted with relief into the mobile as he reached his family.

"We're here, we're here with the army and they say to come," he said.

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British Museum training Iraqi experts to save Mosul heritage
London (AFP) Feb 20, 2017
As Iraqi forces fight to take back Mosul from the Islamic State group, archaeologists trained by the British Museum are preparing for another battle - trying to save what they can of the city's heritage. One of the world's leading institutions for the study of ancient Iraq, the London museum has been training Iraqi experts for the past year in high-tech methods to preserve and document thei ... read more

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