BAGHDAD — The head of Iraq’s special forces said on Wednesday his troops had recaptured all eastern areas of Mosul they were tasked with seizing from Daesh (so-called IS), bringing almost all of the east of the city under Iraqi military control.
The Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) had taken control of the eastern bank of the Tigris river, which bisects the city from north to south, Lt. Gen. Talib Shaghati told reporters in Mosul.
Army units are fighting Daesh in a collection of northeastern districts the militants remain holed up in, the military says.
Daesh militants still control all city districts to the west of the Tigris, which bisects Mosul from north to south.
Fighting took place in the Qadiya 2 and Al-Arabi districts in the northeast.
The army, special forces and elite police units have operated in tandem to capture different areas of eastern Mosul. The army is mostly deployed in the north, the Counter-Terrorism Service — which has spearheaded advances — in the east, and the federal police in the south.
Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said late on Tuesday that the ultra-hardline group had been severely weakened in the Mosul campaign, and that the military had begun “moving” against it in western Mosul, without elaborating.
Residents reached by phone said airstrikes against Daesh deep inside western Mosul had increased in recent days.
More than a dozen missile strikes in the Yarmouk district targeted weapons depots and workshops the militants used to make explosives and destroyed two car bombs stored there, one resident said.
Some raids had killed or wounded civilians, including in the Mosul Al-Jadida neighborhood and an industrial zone, they said.
Reuters could not independently verify the witness accounts.
148,000 homeless in Mosul battle: UN
The United Nations says the massive Iraqi military operation to retake the city of Mosul has made more than 148,000 people homeless.
The UN said in a statement night that nearly 12,500 people were forced to flee their homes just over the past week.
The statement also says that the fighting over Iraq’s second-largest city continues to inflict relatively high civilian casualties, with more than 1,500 wounded taken hospitals in the nearby city of Irbil for trauma care.
Daesh fighters have repeatedly targeted civilians trying to flee neighborhoods still under militant control.
More than a million people were estimated to still be living in Mosul in October. — Agencies
