Iraqi troops recapture new neighbourhood from IS

Iraqi government forces on Tuesday freed a new neighbourhood after heavy clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants in the western side of Mosul, the military said.

The Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) force drove out the IS from al-Tanak neighbourhood and raised the Iraqi flags on some of its buildings, Xinhua news agency quoted Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Yarallah as saying.

The recapture of Tanak, which had long been one of the main IS strongholds in Mosul, came after several days of battles against the militants.

The latest advance is part of operations to retake control of the remaining IS-held neighbourhoods in the western side of Mosul.

It is also part of slow push towards the western and northwestern edges of Mosul's densely populated old city centre, where roughly 400,000 residents are still trapped under the IS rule.

Meanwhile, Rapid Response forces pushed further reinforcement troops to the edges of the old city centre to initiate progress from new directions in Bab al-Toub and Bab al-Jadid area, another military official said.

The move came as fierce clashes continued in the narrow streets in the old neighbourhoods around the historical al-Nuri Mosque in the middle of Mosul's city centre.

The progress is much slower than the early phases of offensive by the stubborn resistance of the IS and the the troops' restriction to use heavy bombings and increased sniper fire against the militants holed up in densely populated area due to civilian security.

The paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units also launched in the early morning a new operation to dislodge IS militants from their desert stronghold in Hadhar town and nearby villages, some 80 km southwest of Mosul.

After several hours of their advance, the paramilitary units cleared three villages near Hadhar from IS militants and defused many roadside bombs, a statement said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, announced the start of an offensive on February 19 to drive extremist militants out of the western side of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of the Tigris River which bisects the city.

Late in January, Abadi declared the liberation of Mosul's eastern side, or the left bank of Tigris, after over 100 days of fighting IS militants.

However, the western part of Mosul, with its narrow streets and heavily populated neighbourhoods, appears to be a bigger challenge to the Iraqi forces.

Mosul, 400 km away from here, has been under IS control since June 2014, when government forces abandoned their posts and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of the country's northern and western regions.

--IANS

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