Iraq forces inch closer to Mosul
bazwaya — Iraqi special forces advanced on the Daesh-held city of Mosul from the east on Monday, taking heavy fire but entering the last village before the city limits and clearing a path that was followed by army units.
Armoured vehicles, including Abrams tanks, drew mortar and small arms fire as they moved on the village of Bazwaya in the dawn assault, while allied artillery and airstrikes hit Daesh positions.
Car bombers are trying to stop the advance, but the troops, just 3 kilomtres from Mosul’s eastern outskirts, aim to enter it later in the day, Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil said. The army said another unit, its ninth division, had moved up toward Mosul and was now approximately three miles from its eastern outskirts.
At one point, a Humvee packed with explosives raced ahead in an attempt to ram the forces, but Iraqi troops opened fire on it, setting off the charge and blowing up the vehicle. Plumes of smoke rose in the air from Daesh positions hit by artillery
3,000 to 5,000 Daesh militants are believed to be inside Mosul city
and airstrikes. State television described the operation as a “battle of honour” to liberate the city, captured by Daesh from a superior yet neglected Iraqi force in 2014.
“The target is to retake Bazwaya and Gogjali, the last two villages before Mosul,” Muntadhar Al Shimmari, a lieutenant colonel with US-trained the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), told at the front.
“If we manage that, we’ll only be a few hundred metres from Mosul,” he said.
Shimmari said “only a handful of civilians”, mostly members of the Shabak minority, were thought to remain in the two villages.
For two weeks, Iraqi forces and their Kurdish allies, tribesmen and militias have been converging on Mosul from all directions to drive Daesh from Iraq’s second largest city. The operation is expected to take weeks, if not months.To the south of the city, federal forces, backed by coalition artillery units stationed in the main staging base of Qayyarah, have been pushing north.
Since the offensive began on October 17, Iraqi forces moving towards the city have made uneven progress. Advances have been slower in the south, with government forces there still 35 kilometres from the city.
The US military estimates Daesh has 3,000 to 5,000 fighters inside Mosul and another 1,5002,500 in the city’s outer defensive belt. The total number includes around 1,000 foreign fighters. A day earlier, thousands of fighters flocked to join Iraq’s state-sanctioned, Iran-backed militias who aim to cut off Mosul from the west. — AP, AFP