Iraqi troops capture key parts of Mosul neighborhood

Anti-terrorism forces affiliated the Iraqi army clashed for more than 13 hours until Thursday noon with ISIS militants in the neighborhood, which is regarded as one of the most important strongholds of the terror group in the western part of the city, Police Capt. Said Kamel al-Alusi said.

Seven alleys in the neighborhood were recaptured, al-Alusi said, adding that his forces killed 15 armed militants and arrested another three; they also destroyed a booby-trapped vehicle through which a suicide bomber tried to target Iraqi troops.

A police captain was also killed and another four injured during the operation, he added.

Clashes are expected to continue in the area.

In a related development, the federal police command announced on Thursday that Iraqi troops penetrated the old city towards the Nuri mosque in the western part of Mosul.

"The federal police penetrated the old city and killed 13 terrorists, and destroyed 7 booby-trapped vehicles of ISIS in the Bab al-Jadid axis towards the al-Nuri Mosque in western Mosul," police commander Maj. Raed Shaker Jawdat said in a brief statement.

He added: "The federal police managed to shoot down a ISIS drone in northern Al-Tayaran district and launched artillery attacks targeting terrorist headquarters in the old city.”

In February, Iraqi ground forces began fresh operations aimed at ousting ISIS from western Mosul, the terrorist group’s last bastion in northern Iraq.

The offensive is part of a wider campaign launched last October to retake the entire city, which ISIS overran in mid-2014.



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