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The Week in Pictures: Oct. 14 - 21
Battle for Mosul begins, presidential candidates have a laugh at dinner, a pygmy anteater makes its debut, and more.

Iraqi soldiers walk on a road as smoke billows from the Qayyarah area, about 35 miles south of Mosul, on Oct. 19, 2016, during an operation against ISIS to retake the main hub city. In the biggest Iraqi military operation in years, forces have retaken dozens of villages, mostly south and east of Mosul, and are planning multiple assaults for October 20.


89th Airlift Wing Vice Commander Col. Christopher M. Thompson loses his hat with the blast from Air Force One, with President Barack Obama aboard, as it departs from Andrews Air Force Base, Md. on Oct. 20 en route to Miami to encourage people to sign up for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act during an upcoming enrollment period.





A vet holds a pygmy anteater, also known as a silky anteater, at the Huachipa Zoo, on the outskirts of Lima, Peru on Oct. 19. The zoo presented on Wednesday three anteater species: giant bears, tamanduas, and pygmies, during an event to promote their pair of silky anteaters, who just turned 11 years old. The zoo is preparing a breeding program of this rare species, that does not exceed 13 cm.


Soldiers of the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) celebrate while standing in trenches in Lelo, outside Malakal, northern South Sudan, on Oct. 16. Heavy fighting broke out on October 14 between the government's SPLA and opposition forces in Wajwok and Lalo villages, outside Malakal. SPLA commanders claim they succeeded to keep their positions and assure their forces just responded "on self defence".



Members of an evangelic church attend church damaged by Hurricane Matthew, in the commune of Roche-a-Bateaux, in Les Cayes, Haiti, on Oct. 16. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced distress at the "absolute devastation" caused by the deadly hurricane in Haiti, and disappointment at the little emergency aid reaching the struggling nation.

The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard stands on launch Pad-0A during sunrise at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Oct. 16 in Wallops Island, Virginia. Orbital ATK's sixth contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver over 5,100 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew.