30 militants killed as Iraqi forces gain ground in Mosul
IRAQI forces pushed farther into Mosul from the north on the second day of a new drive to speed up the nearly seven-month attempt to dislodge Isil, commanders said yesterday.
Isil tried to block the troops’ northerly advance into its de facto Iraqi capital with suicide car bombs and sniper fire, Brigadier General Walid Khalifa, deputy commander of the 9th brigade, told Reuters in Hulayla, west of Musherfa.
His troops had killed about 30 militants, and destroyed five car bombs before they could be used against them, he said.
US air support has proved vital for spotting suicide car bombs and for avoiding targets where civilians are trapped.
Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, a spokesman for the joint operations command, said the militants “didn’t have time to make barriers, the advance since yesterday has been good”.
An army statement said the Second Musherfa district as well as the Church and Mikhail’s Monastery area had been retaken.
The US-backed Iraqi forces’ new foothold aims to open escape routes for the hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped behind Isil lines and, in turn, help troops to progress.
Mr Rasool said Iraqi forces rescued 1,000 families on Thursday.
Footage taken by a drone operated by the Iraqi 9th Armoured Division over the northwestern suburb of Musherfa and shown to reporters, showed the militants had scant defences there, unlike in other parts of Mosul where streets are blocked by anti-tank barriers and vehicles.
US Army Lieutenant Colonel James Browning, the partnered adviser to the 9th, said that the militants had tried to keep some streets open in order to use suicide car bombs.
Isil was probably expecting the attack, he said, “but can’t defend everywhere”.
“When you open up more fronts it becomes harder for (Isil) to be able to defend.”