Medics in Mosul struggle as casualties mount

World Today

Mideast Iraq MosulAn Iraqi man carries his daughter who was wounded by an Islamic State group mortar shell in the Al-Tahrir neighborhood, at a field hospital set by the Iraqi special forces medical unit, at al-Samah neighborhood, in Mosul city, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. An airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition on Wednesday “disabled” the fourth bridge on the Tigris River in Mosul, leaving the northern Iraqi city with a single functioning bridge, according to the Iraqi military and the Islamic State’s media arm. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Casualties are mounting in northern Iraq in the month-long battle for control of Mosul.

As ISIL uses guerrilla tactics, snipers and artillery shells against civilians and soldiers, emergency field medics struggle to treat the steady stream of incoming wounded.

CCTV’s Stephanie Freid is with the first response medical teams in Mosul.
Follow Stephanie Freid on Twitter @stefanella

Nine-year-old Mustafa was at the market in his eastern Mosul neighborhood when a mortar hit.

But the first response team struggles to contain the bleeding.

This scenario repeats itself every day, all day long.

This is the only first response treatment facility in Mosul where everything is in short supply.

Medics worry that the facility will be targeted by incoming artillery, or that ISIL operatives strapped with explosives will try to disguise themselves among the wounded civilians.

Undeterred, medics continue treating patients.

For countless casualties, it is literally a matter of life and death.