More villages liberated in Qairawan, west of Mosul
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) The paramilitary troops have freed three villages in Qairawan region, near Mosul, on the fifth day of an offensive launched to drive Islamic State out of the region.
A statement by al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) said that the first brigade troops liberated Tal Bashuk village in the north of Qairawan. Battles between the troops against the Islamic State fighters left several militants killed and their vehicles burnt.
Another statement said that the 13th brigade troops freed Tal al-Dala’, in the south of Qairawan, while the 41st brigade liberated Thara al-Karrah village.
“The troops evacuated tens of families toward the recently liberated Tal al-Sultan village, in the south of the region,” the media service said.
“All essential needs were offered to the displaced families before being evacuated to outside of the battlefields,” it added.
Many villages in Qairawan region, a main Islamic State bastion which links between Tal Afar town and the Syrian borders, have been freed since an the troops launched an offensive on Friday to free the region.
Iraqi forces storm last IS-held district northwest of Mosul’s Old City: officer
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi government forces began Tuesday invading the last district leading to the Islamic State-held Old City from the northwest as commanders reassure of near victory.
Cap. Kadhim Hassan, from the Interior Ministry’s Rapid Response forces, told BasNews that troops invaded al-Najjar district, and managed to destroy ten booby-trapped cars belonging to the Islamic State at that district.
Iraqi government forces are eyeing the ancient, densely structured and populated Old City, the place where Islamic State’s supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of an “Islamic Caliphate” in 2014. Troops besieged the area for weeks from the south, but turned to the northwestern axis to invade the city earlier this month. IS fighters are believed to have been holding hundreds of thousands at that area as human shields.
“The enemy is on the brink of total defeat in Mosul,” U.S. Air Force Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesperson of the U.S.-led coalition backing Iraqi troops, told a news conference in Baghdad on Tuesday, adding that the coalition had destroyed 200 underground tunnels and 300 vehicles belonging to the militants.
IS media official killed in western Mosul, 25 members arrested in north
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi government forces killed a senior media official with the Islamic State in western Mosul and arrested 25 others in the north, an army and police officers said Tuesday.
BasNews quoted Maj. Ali Mohsen, from the army’s Counter-Terrorism Service, saying troops killed Islamic State’s current media official, Jalal Ayoub Shehab, a Syrian national, during battles at Iktisadiyeen district which troops partially recaptured. He added that seven booby-trapped vehicles were also detonated.
Meanwhile, Khaled al-Jawari, a Federal Police colonel, told the website that security forces arrested a 25-member IS cell in al-Sukkar and al-Seddiq districts, north of Mosul. The arrested members had light weapons in their possession, according to the officer.
Seven IS militants killed in western Mosul airstrike
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Seven Islamic State members were killed Tuesday when unidentified fighter jets bombarded a house in western Mosul, a security source was quoted saying as operations reach the group’s last few entrenchments.
A security source told Shafaaq news website that the strike targeted a house at Iktisadiyeen neighborhood, where intense fighting is ongoing between the group and Iraqi troops eyeing the neighboring Old City.
Those killed included the group’s commander in charge of booby-trapped vehicles attacks, according to the source.
More than 16,000 Islamic State members killed since start of Mosul operations: Spokesperson
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) The Joint Operations Command has declared controlling 89.5 percent of western Mosul and killing 16,467 members of Islamic State.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said “the total deaths of IS have reached up to 16,467 militants until yesterday.”
“100 percent of the area of eastern Mosul is under control of the troops,” Rasool said adding that life returned back to normal.
679 booby-trapping vehicles, 11 headquarters of the group, 47 drones and 76 booby-trapping workshops were destroyed while 6,661 bombs and 217 explosive belts were defused, according to Rasool.
“89.5 percent of western Mosul was liberated. Only few districts are remaining under the militants control,” he said adding that the paramilitary troops of al-Hashd al-Shaabi “made extreme advance toward Qairawan and Baaj regions.”
Meanwhile, Iraqi troops have isolated the main battlefields, besieging the IS militants is some districts.
Captain Ali al-Daraji, of the army’s Counter-Terrorism Service, told Shafaq News that the Iraqi forces imposed its full control on Tamuz roundabout and Hafsa bint Omar mosque, in the northwest of Mosul.
The troops now isolate 17 Tamuz (July 17th) district from districts of al-Refaie and al-Najjar, besieging the militants in the alleys and streets of the district.
In related news, Lieutenant-General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, CTS commander, said the coming few days will witness the full liberation of Mosul to be declared as an IS-free city.
He added that once Islah al-Zeraie district was liberated, CTS troops were able to free al-Ureibi district, which enabled blocking the communication between the militants there and the rest in 17 Tamuz and al-Iqtisadiyeen districts, forcing them to head toward the Old City, which will be there last stronghold.