Terror etched on his face, this desperate civilian is made to strip by a nervous soldier to prove he is not a terrorist suicide bomber.

He is just one of thousands fleeing ISIS in Mosul , northern Iraq – many carrying children and screaming for mercy as special forces troops advance.

The Iraqi soldiers, who have lost hundreds of comrades to suicide bombers, order the adults to strip to show they aren’t bearing explosives.

These were the heartbreaking and humiliating scenes over the weekend as the troops smashed their way into ISIS’s last remaining Iraqi stronghold.

Figures released yesterday show 206,000 people have fled the fighting between US-backed Iraqi forces and ISIS militants since the start of the offensive in October – 40,000 in the past week.

More here: [link to www.mirror.co.uk]