Iraqi forces gain ground against IS in Mosul
MOSUL/BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces gained fresh ground in door-to-door fighting in the Old City of Mosul, a military spokesman said yesterday, as the US-backed offensive to capture Islamic State’s de facto capital in Iraq entered its seventh month.
Thick smoke was seen billowing over the Old City, near the Grand al-Nuri Mosque, from where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a “caliphate” spanning parts of Iraq and Syria.
Heavy exchanges of gunfire and mortar rounds could be heard from the neighbourhoods facing the old city across the Tigris River that bisects Mosul.
The war between IS militants and Iraqi forces is taking a heavy toll on several hundred thousand civilians trapped inside the city, with severely malnourished babies reaching hospitals in government-held areas.
Iraqi Federal Police forces “are engaged in difficult, house-to-house clashes with Daesh (IS) fighters inside the Old City”, a media officer said.
Drones are extensively being used to locate and direct air strikes on the militants who are dug in among civilians, he said.
Troops have had the famous centuries-old al-Nuri Mosque leaning minaret in their sights since last month, as capturing it would mark a symbolic victory over the insurgents.
Police said the troops were closing in on the mosque without indicating the remaining distance.
Their progress has been slow as about 400 000 civilians, or a quarter of Mosul’s pre-war population, are trapped in neighbourhoods still under the militants’ control.
More 300 000 have fled fighting since the offensive started on October 17, with strong air and ground support from a US-led coalition.
Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq, was captured by the ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim fighters in mid-2014.
Government forces, including army, police and elite counter terrorism units have taken back most of it, including the half that lies east of the Tigris River.
The militants are now surrounded in the north-western quarter including the historic Old City, using booby traps, sniper and mortar fire against the assailants.
Police yesterday reported a toxic gas attack on its troops that caused no deaths. It also said the militants were increasingly using suicide motorbike attacks.
The narrow alleyways restricts the use of suicide cars by the militants and tanks, armoured personnel carriers and Humvees by the government forces.
The UN said last month that 12 people, including women and children, had been treated for possible exposure to chemical weapons agents in Mosul. But Iraq’s UN ambassador, Mohamed Ali Alhakim, said days later there was no evidence for that.
The fighting has killed several thousand civilians and fighters on both sides.