IS control 9% of western Mosul, chemical weapons factory seized
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State militants control only nine percent of territories in western Mosul, a spokesperson of the Iraqi command said on Monday as battles reach the group’s final strongholds.
Brig. Gen. Yahia Rasoul, spokesperson of the Joint Operations Command, said Iraqi forces invaded the northern section of 17 Tamuz, the first district Islamic State captured in the city in 2014. He added that only a few number of militants are remaining in the city, suffering scarcity of food and combat supplies.
Meanwhile, Federal Police chief Shaker Jawdat was quoted by al-Arabiya news channel saying his forces killed 173 Islamic State members while invading the Uraybi and Refaie districts. He said forces had also invaded the Ektesadiyeen district.
He said in a statement that police seized the group’s biggest chemical weapons factory run by the group in 17 Tamuz district, defusing several chemical IEDs.
According to Jawdat, 60 senior IS members fled with their families from 17 Tamuz.
Mass Islamic State fighters grave found in western Mosul
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) A mass grave of Islamic State members was found Monday at a district retaken by Iraqi security forces in western Mosul as operations to clear the region from militants reach their final stages.
Col. Mortada Hassan, from the Iraqi army, told BasNews that the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service forces found a mass grave containing what are believed to be the relics of 20 members of the Islamic State’s Hisbah (vigilantees) group at al-Haramat.
Hassan said the dead bodies were carried to a forensic authority department.
Islamic State has lost hundreds of fighters and senior leaders since Iraqi troops, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary forces, launched an offensive in October to retake the city. Since the launch of the campaign, dozens of mass graves of civilians and security members executed by IS have been discovered.
Coalition generals say there are less than 1000 IS members remaining in the western side of Mosul where Iraqi generals claim control over more than 90 percent of territories.
21 IS members killed, 3 arrested in airstrikes, special operations in western Mosul
Mosul (IraqiNews.com)Twenty-one Islamic State members were killed and three others were arrested on Monday in airstrikes and special operations by the Iraqi security forces struggling to recapture the last districts held by the group in western Mosul.
Cap. Abbas al-Babeli, from the Interior Ministry’s Rapid Response Forces, told Shafaaq News website that the army’s Counter-Terrorism Service forces killed nine IS militants and arrested three others in special operations at al-Rifaie district.
Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said Iraqi fighter jets killed 12 IS members and destroyed their booby-trapping and explosives factories in al-Baaj region, west of Mosul and near the borders with Syria.