Iraqi forces advance in Mosul Old City, rescue civilians
MOSUL, Iraq: Iraqi forces said yesterday they were fighting fierce battles with the Islamic State group and rescuing escaping civilians as they pursued their offensive against Mosul’s jihadistheld Old City.
Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi, a senior commander in the CounterTerrorism Service (CTS), said the battle was proceeding as expected but that progress was slow.
“Things are good and the battle is going as planned,” he told AFP.
“We have many obstacles – the nature of the land, the nature of the construction, the roads and the civilian population -- all of which make us slow down our work.”
He said civilians were escaping the Old City, with up to 400 approaching the positions of Iraqi forces on Monday.
Federal police forces said they were moving forward on the southern front of the battle with support from heavy weapons fire and on the northern front had surrounded a hospital.
Iraqi forces launched the operation on Sunday to retake the Old City, the last part of Iraq’s second city still held by IS after a months-long offensive.
Commanders say the jihadists are putting up fierce resistance and there are fears for more than 100,000 civilians believed to be trapped in the maze of narrow streets.
Iraqi forces have been inching forward in the face of heavy sniper and mortar fire and booby-traps laid by the jihadists.
On Monday, three French journalists were wounded and Kurdish reporter Bakhtiyar Addad killed in a mine explosion while accompanying Iraqi forces in Mosul.
French public broadcaster France Televisions said Tuesday that one of the wounded journalists, Stephan Villeneuve, had died of his injuries.
The push into Mosul’s historic heart on the west bank of the Tigris marks the culmination of a campaign launched in October by Iraqi forces to retake IS’s last major urban stronghold in the country.
The US-led coalition battling IS in Iraq and neighbouring Syria has backed the offensive, including with months of air strikes.
The loss of Mosul would mark the effective end of the Iraqi portion of the cross- border “caliphate” that IS declared in summer 2014 after seizing swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Earlier this week, Iraqi forces dropped nearly 500,000 leaflets over the city, urging civilians to stay indoors and escape if they can. — AFP