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Just days ago, Islamic State militants were operating on the outskirts of Qayyarah setting fire to oil wells they controlled only a month ago, Oct. 24, 2016. (H. Murdock/VOA)

Residents say residue from the fumes coats their clothes and skin, and at this household there is just barely enough water for drinking in Qayyarah, Iraq, Oct. 24, 2016. (H. Murdock/VOA)

In recent days about 1,000 people have been hospitalized from inhaling fumes from another fire set by IS nearby, this one at a sulfur plant, in Qayyarah, Iraq, Oct. 24, 2016. (H. Murdock/VOA)

Most of the homes in this area remain empty as Iraqi and Peshmerga forces recapture villages. Many homes and businesses are in rubble, bombed by coalition airstrikes against IS, in Qayyarah, Iraq, Oct. 24, 2016. (H. Murdock/VOA)

Obayda left six months ago, returning only after IS had been driven from town. Life under IS in Qayyarah, Iraq, he says, was becoming more dangerous as Iraqi forces grew closer, Oct. 24, 2016. (H. Murdock/VOA)

Iraqi soldiers rest at a base not far from Mosul in a camp occupied by IS only last month near Qayyarah, Iraq, Oct. 24, 2016. (H. Murdock/VOA)

UNICEF says of the million people believed to be trapped inside IS-controlled territory, more than half are children, in Qayyarah, Iraq, Oct. 24, 2016. (H. Murdock/VOA)

Homes and businesses across this former IS-territory have been bombed by coalition airstrikes in Qayyarah, Iraq, Oct. 24, 2016. (H. Murdock/VOA)

On an Iraqi Army base near Mosul, a former IS sign has been doused with green paint and local graffiti, in Qayyarah, Iraq, Oct. 24, 2016. (H. Murdock/VOA)