Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi government forces recaptured on Saturday Zanjili district in western Mosul, leaving only one district in Islamic State’ grip before reaching its strategic stronghold in the Old City neighborhood.
Federal Police chief Shaker Jawdat said in a statement that his forces went on clearing booby-traps from the district, adding they ran into a huge reservoir of projectiles and rocket launchers belonging to the group. Troops also continue to evacuate civilians escaping from al-Shifa neighborhood, the last remaining area near the Old City.
Iraqi government troops regained control over eastern Mosul in January after three months of fighting. Operations for the western side of the city launched in mid February, and Iraqi generals say a few hundreds of IS fighters remain in the Old City as a last refuge.
In an apparent attempt to hinder the troops’ advances, Islamic State militants on Saturday surprisingly attacked a supply route between Baghdad and Mosul which passes via the city of Shriqat, Salahuddin. The attack left civilian casualties.
A military source was quoted saying in a press statement that the “massive” attack targeted Shirqat, Makhoul region and desert areas to the southwest of Mosul. He said Iraqi warplanes and large ground reinforcements helped fight the militants off.
Shirqat mayor, Ali al-Dawdah, said a curfew was imposed in the city, but said troops, backed by Popular Mobilization Forces, managed to repel the attack and killed 16 militants.
DPA quoted an Iraqi security source saying 14 civilians, including three women and a little girl, were killed in the attack which reached a village on the outskirts of Shirqat. He added that intense fighting continued in the area.
Iraqi forces press attacks in Mosul
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi government forces invaded on Saturday the last neighborhood held by the Islamic State near western Mosul’s Old City, the group’s last entrenchment in the city.
An official military source told Shafaaq News website that arm forces made incursions along 50 meters into al-Shifa neighborhood, entering from nearby Zanjili which government troops took over earlier on the same day.
Federal Police chief Shaker Jawdat said in a statement hours earlier that his forces went on clearing booby-traps from Zanjili district after taking entire control. He said hundreds of militants were killed there, including 49 snipers and 22 suicide bombers.
Iraqi forces drive back ISIS attack in Mosul
[AlManar] Iraqi forces repelled an offensive launched in the early hours of Saturday by ISIL on the town of Shirqat, south of Mosul, during which more than 30 military and civilians were killed and 40 more wounded, security sources said.
About a dozen ISIL terrorists were also killed in the fighting, which ended around midday, the sources said.
About half the dead in the city were civilians and the rest members of the Iraqi armed forces and tribal fighters. A curfew was still in place in the early evening.