In Iraq, government forces are securing their foothold in the city of Mosul, moving from house to house to clear areas of Islamic State militants. <br/><br/>A government spokesman said, many IS fighters have been killed in the fighting. Aid workers are fearing a large scale exodus of civilians from Mosul after Iraqi forces' claim of entering the city. <br/><br/>In a statement, the Norwegian Refugee Council's Iraq Director, Wolfgang Gressmann, said lives of 1.2 million civilians in the city are in grave danger.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, the United Nations has received reports that the IS militants are seizing tens of thousands of civilians for possible use as human shields. <br/><br/>The UN says there have also been a report that IS has executed nearly three hundred people in Mosul in the last one week.