"The United States is monitoring Iraq's largest dam for signs of further deterioration that could point to an impending catastrophic collapse, US army officers said on Thursday.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group seized the Mosul Dam briefly in 2014, leading to a lapse in maintenance that weakened an already flawed structure, and Baghdad is seeking a company to make repairs.

"The likelihood of the dam collapsing is something we are trying to determine right now," Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, the commander of the US-led operation against IS, told journalists in Baghdad."

W.G. Dunlop reports for AFP January 28, 2016. [2]