Inquiry on fall of Mosul waits for answers from Iraqi government

The parliamentary committee responsible for investigating the fall of Mosul to Islamic State (ISIS) forces last June said on Tuesday that it has been waiting for written answers from Vice President Nouri Al-Maliki and Kurdish President Masoud Barzani, Anadolu agency has reported.

The chief of the committee, Hakem Al-Zamly, told journalists that the final report on the fall of Iraq’s second city is almost ready, noting that the committee is to reinvestigate several individuals over contradicting testimonies.

Al-Zamly said that the committee had received answers from Iraqi Vice President Osama Al-Nujaifi and is waiting for written answers from Al-Maliki and Barzani.

“In case the are no answers, the committee will present the results to parliament and public opinion [without their testimonies],” Al-Zamly said. “This will amount to an indictment of them.”

Last December, the Iraqi parliament formed a committee to investigate the events that led to the fall of Mosul to ISIS in June 2014.

The reasons behind the fall of the city remain ambiguous, especially since four army brigades had withdrawn from the city before ISIS entered it. Senior military leaders fled to the Kurdish region in northern Iraq.