Syrian youths collect wood from rubble to be used for heating and cooking, on Dec 27, in the Damascus rebel-held eastern suburb of Zamalka. (AFP)

BAGHDAD, Dec 27, (Agencies): Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al- Abadi said on Tuesday it would take three months to eliminate Islamic State, as US-backed forces battle to dislodge the militants from their city stronghold of Mosul. Abadi previously said the city would be retaken by the end of this year but commanders blame the slower pace on the need to protect civilians who have mostly stayed in their homes rather than fleeing as was expected. “Conditions indicate that Iraq needs three months to eliminate DAESH (Islamic State),” state TV quoted Abadi as saying.More than two months into the operation, elite Iraqi soldiers have retaken a quarter of Mosul, but entered a planned “operational refit” this month. A US battlefield commander told Reuters on Monday Iraqi forces would resume their offensive in the coming days, in a new phase of the operation that will see American troops deployed closer to the front line inside the city.Mosul, the largest city held by Islamic State anywhere across the once-vast territory it controlled in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, has been held by the group since its fighters drove the US-trained army out in June 2014. Its fall would probably end Islamic State’s ambition to rule over millions of people in a self-styled caliphate, but the fighters could still mount a more traditional insurgency in Iraq, and plot or inspire attacks on the West. An Iraqi journalist was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen from her home in Baghdad overnight, police and relatives said on Tuesday, prompting Abadi to order an investigation. Afrah al-Qaisi is an outspoken critic of government institutions in satirical columns she writes for several local newspapers and media outlets. Qaisi used to work for the pan-Arab, Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. Iraq’s Interior Ministry said in a statement it had formed a team to look into her abduction.The gunmen took Qaisi from the predominantly Sunni southern Saydiya district of the capital where she lived with her family, according to Ziyad al-Ajili, head of the Iraqi Journalistic Freedoms Observatory. “They separated the children from their mother after forcefully entering the house and took money, jewellery, laptops and her car as they left,” Ajili said. Her husband was away at the time and the assailants broke into the house after Qaisi refused to open the door. Iraq is ranked second after Somalia in the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) 2016 Index of Impunity, which calculates the number of unsolved murders over a 10-year period as a percentage of each country’s population. Over the past decade, 71 journalists have been killed with impunity in Iraq, according to the CPJ.Many were victims of Sunni insurgents who were active in Iraq even before Islamic State militants overran around one third of the country more than two years ago. But other armed factions, including Shi’ite militias, some backed by the government, have grown increasingly powerful through their participation in Baghdad’s fight against Islamic State. Islamic State group fighters “summarily executed” 13 civilians after villagers rose up against them at the start of the Iraqi army’s offensive to retake Mosul, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.The killings took place in the villages of Al-Hud and Al-Lazzagah, 50 kms (30 miles) south of Mosul on Oct 17, the day government forces launched the massive operation to oust the jihadists from the city. “ISIS responded to the village uprising by unlawfully executing people captured in the uprising and civilians who weren’t involved,” Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at HRW, said in a statement. “Security forces who capture ISIS fighters should properly investigate their participation in alleged war crimes like these,” she said, using an alternate acronym for the jihadist group. In total, the IS fighters “summarily executed at least 13 people including two boys,” HRW said. The report included the picture of one of the slain boys, a 13-year-old who had not been involved in the uprising, it said, citing his father Muhammad. IS had captured Al-Hud and Al-Lazzagah in June 2014, with villagers saying they lived in constant fear of punishment, including death, for activities like smoking and using mobile phones, said HRW.As Iraqi forces closed in on the morning of Oct 17, about 30 villagers attacked the jihadists, killing 19 of them, said the New York-based watchdog. IS fighters began the execution-style killings in the afternoon, leaving bodies lying in the streets. Iraqi forces entered Al-Lazzagah that evening and Al-Hud the next morning. Human Rights Watch called on Iraqi security forces to “appropriately investigate incidents of alleged war crimes so that those responsible, if in government custody, can be fairly prosecuted”. After seizing control of large parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in mid-2014, IS declared a crossborder “caliphate”, imposed its harsh interpretation of Islamic law and committed widespread atrocities. Iraqi forces have been tightening the noose around Mosul since launching the offensive.