“I’ve just one daughter. I told the driver Hawkar get me to the hospital. Since I’m alive, I should be treated quickly. I’ve only that daughter,” Rudaw cameraman Younis Mustafa recalled about the day an ISIS IED exploded, killing Shifa Gardi and injuring him.

The day, Saturday, February 25, began with Younis’ mother, Almas Ismail, inviting her son to enjoy lunch together. 
 
“I called him and said Younis come here for lunch. He said: mom, do you know where I’m? I said no, I don’t. He said: I’m in Mosul city. I said: Where is Mosul city? He replied: Shifa and I are on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. It’s such a nice place. Wish you were here, too,” Ismail recalled.

That day, Younis Mustafa was with Shifa Gardi covering the news and events of Mosul.
 
Southwest of Mosul there is a giant pit which locals call Khasfa, meaning pit in Arabic. Shifa was trying to tell the story of ISIS crimes against people under its rule, but a bomb laid in the site exploded, killing Shifa, a Hashd al-Shaabi commander, and several other soldiers, and injuring Younis. 
 
“The last moment I remember is that she got the information she needed on the pit and said: Younis let’s start. I think I had started recording and she was doing the intro of her program when there was the explosion.”

Younis was taken to multiple hospitals to receive treatment, including surgery on broken bones. 
 
“I had promised that nothing will happen to Shifa and I’ll protect her,” said Younis. “But I’m very sad that I wasn’t able to. I said Hawkar don’t take me home without Shifa. I asked where is Shifa? He said, ‘Unfortunately, she’s gone.’ When I came to in the hospital I kept asking about Shifa. They said she’s gone.”
 
Younis is 31 years old, one of 11 siblings. His deceased father was a Peshmerga. Younis has worked as a cameraman at Rudaw for two years.
 
“I miss Rudaw. I miss all the staff. I miss the screen. I miss my job,” Younis said. “I hope to be able to come back to working for Rudaw and its logo and screen.”
 
Because of his experience in covering the war and battlefronts, Rudaw correspondents always preferred to work with Younis on the frontline.
 
“We all wanted to work with Younis, especially in Mosul,” said Nabard Hussein, a Rudaw correspondent. “Apart from being a good cameraman, he also spoke an amazing Arabic. He would film the scenes we wanted and he would do translation too.” 
 
On January 11, 2015, when ISIS attacked Gwer and Makhmour, Younis filmed the scene of their defeat and escape. He was awarded by the Kurdish president for his work.
 
“One foggy day ISIS attacked Gwer and I got there at 6 o’clock,” Younis recalled. “Gwer was in a bad situation. I stayed there with Mr. Najat and the next day ISIS attacked. On the Sultan Abdullah heights they said ISIS has attacked. As a media person I was on the forefront with Mr. Najat.”
 
“They had with them an armored car and five hummers. Mr. Najat sent out orders and said hit them. They did not resist. They got off their hummers and ran towards Sultan Abdullah. I also followed them and filmed. As the Peshmerga hit and killed the ISIS militants, I kept filming them. That filming became famous because that night Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi executed 54 of his emirs. Mr. President Barzani made a call and said I want to see that guy. He came to the Gwer front of Mr. Sirwan and the president hugged me warmly and said you saved the Kurdish nation from a big fear.”
 
Younis has lost parts of two of his fingers, a major wound in his thigh is still healing, and he cannot see out of his left eye though doctors are hopeful it will heal in time.