Iraqi forces take more of Mosul, bomb Syrian IS positions
MOSUL AIRPORT, Iraq — As Iraqi ground troops pushed into western Mosul yesterday, the country’s air force struck Islamic State group targets inside Syria for the first time in response to recent bombings in Baghdad claimed by the militants.
Meanwhile, at least 60 people were killed in IS attacks near a key northern Syrian town captured only a day earlier from the extremists by Turkish forces and their Syrian opposition allies. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the Iraqi airstrikes in Syria in a statement, saying the border towns of Boukamal and Husseibah were targeted in response to recent bombings in Baghdad linked to Islamic State group operations there.
Iraqi forces closely supported by the U.S.-led international coalition pushed into the first neighborhood of western Mosul and took full control of the city’s international airport and a sprawling military base on the southwestern edge of the city, according to Iraqi officials.
The territorial gains were the most significant yet in the battle, now in its sixth day, to rout IS militants from the western half of Iraq’s second-largest city.
Iraqi forces pushed into the Mamun neighborhood and engaged in intense clashes with IS militants, according to an Iraqi special forces officer on the ground, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Federal police Maj. Gen. Haider al-Maturi said his forces pushed through concrete roadblocks and earthen berms set up by the Islamic State group, and succeeded in capturing around 30 percent of the Aviation District, the first district entering Mosul’s western perimeter from the south.
Al-Maturi said six Iraqi troops were wounded, including two officers. However, an AP team near the front line saw at least four wounded special forces’ members and the bodies of three soldiers, suggesting more intense fighting than the previous day. A Canadian medic volunteering at a front-line clinic said he had treated at least 10 wounded federal policemen.