‘Incredible to see Mosul coming back to life’, says Cork photographer

An Irish photographer who captured the human cost of the battle for the city of Mosul in Iraq has spoken of his hope for the country and his time embedded with Iraqi forces during some of the bloodiest fighting against Islamic State (IS).

Last month Ivor Pickett took first prize in the news photographer category at the 2018 World Press Photographers of the Year contest for his New York Times series ‘Battle for Mosul’.

The fight to drive IS out of Mosul left 600,000 of the population of three million displaced and much of the old part of the city in ruins but Cork-born Mr Pickett has just returned there and says he is heartened by the resilience of the people.