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Evidence of a 'difficult fight' ahead as forces move toward ISIS-held Mosul

The Washington Post: SHAQOULI, Iraq — To defend a few miles of unremarkable road in northern Iraq, flanked by farmland, the occasional factory and flyspeck hamlets and villages, the Islamic State militants seemed to spare no effort.

They loaded a Volkswagen with explosives and secreted remote-detonated bombs into the road’s median strip. They burned tires and dug large tunnels in houses, to obscure their positions. They placed crude mortar launchers on the road’s shoulder, pointed in the direction of any approaching force.

The arsenal ultimately failed to protect the militants as thousands of Kurdish soldiers known as peshmerga swept down the road Monday as part of a broader offensive to drive the militants out of Mosul. But it seemed to slow down the action Tuesday, tying up a large contingent of Iraqi soldiers for the better part of the day as they tried to clear the road and surrounding villages of booby traps, a few wearying feet at a time.

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