Reinforced Iraqi forces face IS car bombs, fierce resistance in south Mosul

MOSUL: Iraqi forces faced car bombs and fierce resistance from Islamic State (IS) militants yesterday, the second day of a renewed push to take back the city.

An officer in the federal police, which joined the battle on Thursday, said there were heavy clashes in the south-eastern Palestine district, but they had made progress in two other neighbourhoods, disabling a number of car bombs.

Another officer, from an elite Interior Ministry unit, said his forces were gaining ground in the Intisar district despite heavy clashes there.

Other officers said Iraqi forces in the east and north of the city were clearing areas they had recaptured on Thursday before advancing any further, and the army was trying to cut supply lines to the town of Tel Keyf, north of Mosul.

Since the offensive began 10 weeks ago, US-backed forces have retaken a quarter of the jihadists’ last major stronghold in Iraq in the biggest ground operation there since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Recapturing Mosul would probably spell the end for IS’s self-styled caliphate, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said the group would be driven out of Iraq by April.

Elite forces pushed into Mosul from the east in October but army troops tasked with advancing from the north and south made slower progress.

After regrouping this month, Iraqi forces advanced on Thursday on the south, north and east of the city, which has been under IS con- trol for more than two years.

Although the militants are vastly outnumbered, they have embedded themselves among Mosul residents, hindering Iraqi forces who are trying to avoid civilian casualties.

On the northern front, Iraqi forces have yet to enter Mosul itself but yesterday they were clearing just-recaptured areas on its periphery as well as trying to cut off Tel Keyf.

“The enemy had occupied this area and used it for resting and resupplying towards Tel Keyf and Mosul,” Major Gen- eral Najm al-Jubbouri, a top commander in the offensive, said in the northern district of Sada. “It (Tel Keyf) is surrounded from the other sides and by our forces here.”

Jubbouri said the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces had killed 70 militants since late on Thursday and were using Apache helicopters, HIMARS rocket launchers and fighter jets.

Iraqi forces have taken around half of the eastern side of Mosul, which is bisected by the Tigris river, but have yet to enter the western side.

Coalition forces bombed the last remaining bridge connecting east and west Mosul late on Monday in a bid to block IS’s access across the Tigris river.

A medical source in Mosul said a number of wounded militants had been ferried across the river to the emergency hospital on the western side of city on Thursday.

The source said the militants were denying wounded and sick civilians access to the hospital. – Reuters