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Mosul Offensive News
 Iraqi forces attack Mosul from south Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Federal Police forces on Monday aimed again at the strategic, Islamic State-held Old City from the southern entrances, reopening an old front they had ceded late April. The service’s chief, Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat, said early Monday that his forces, backed by army warplanes, started attacking Islamic State militants’ defenses south of the Old City, killing seven members before besieging Bab al-Jadid neighborhood. Jawdat said his forces had also run into a prison run by Islamic State militants in the recaptured district of 17 Tamuz. He said forces found corpses of two men and a woman who had apparently been “brutally killed” before the prison was set to fire. 21 ISIS troops smoked in quick attack Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi special forces killed early Monday 21 Islamic State members in a snap operation at a western Mosul district where troops struggle to invade on their way to the strategic Old City. Speaking to Shafaaq News website, Cap. Abdul-Wadoud al-Anbari said the Interior Ministry’s Rapid Response teams and the army’s 9th division killed 21 militants, including five snipers, in al-Shefa district, one of the last three districts surrounding the IS-held Old City area. Since late April, Iraqi forces began a push towards the medieval Old City from the northwest, retaking several surrounding districts. At present, only three neighborhoods around the Old City remain under IS control: Zanjili, al-Sihha and al-Shefa. The Old City was the place where Islamic State’s supreme leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the establishment of the group’s rule in Iraq and Syria. The area’s impassable alleyways have made it hard for army and police vehicles to go through, and the existence of at least 200.000 civilians under IS captivity has also slowed down the pace of operations, according to Iraqi generals. 5 die in Mosul operations Mosul (IraqiNews.com) One special police force officer and four civilians were killed on Monday during battles against Islamic State militants in western Mosul, security and local sources said. Shafaaq News website quoted a security source that a lieutenant colonel at the Interior Ministry’s Rapid Response forces was killed during battles in Zanjili, one of the last three remaining districts around the Old City, the medieval district which stands as Islamic State’s last bastion in western Mosul. Local residents also told the website that four members of one family were killed in an airstrike by warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition in Mashahda neighborhood. Three houses were destroyed in the strike, according to the sources. Late Sunday, Ali al-Karbalai, a lieutenant from the Rapid Response forces, told Anadolu Agency that 32 Iraqi soldiers were killed in 24 hours in suicide attacks by Islamic State militants in al-Shefa and Zanjili districts. Posted by: badanov 2017-06-06 |
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