AFP, Baghdad :
Iraqi forces advanced Thursday after declaring a new phase in their offensive on eastern Mosul, stepping up efforts to reclaim the Islamic State group’s last major stronghold in the country.
Elite forces have reconquered several parts of eastern Mosul since beginning the massive operation to recapture the northern city from the jihadists on October 17, but IS still occupies the city’s west.
Security chiefs said several neighbourhoods had been taken, with the bodies of IS fighters seen lying on the streets and drone footage showing others retreating.
Retaking Mosul could effectively end the jihadist group’s days as a land-holding force in Iraq and deal a death blow to the “caliphate” IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed in the city in June 2014.
“The second phase of liberating the left bank in Mosul was launched, and our forces began advancing toward Al-Quds neighbourhood,” said Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi, a senior officer in Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service.
“Our forces clashed with the enemy and there is resistance,” he told AFP, adding forces on the northern and southern fronts were also advancing.
Mosul, now the last Iraqi city in which IS still holds significant territory, is split by the Tigris River, with the east side referred to as the left bank and the west as the right.
Iraq’s federal police commander, Raed Shaker Jawdat, said “the enemy’s line of defence has fallen back” inside the city.
“The streets of the Al-Salam, Al-Intisar, Al-Wahda, Al-Falestin and Al-Quds neighbourhoods are strewn with the bodies of Daesh fighters,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
Police had also entered deep into the district of Jadida al-Mufti.
The commanding chief of the offensive, Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir Yarallah, late Thursday announced “the liberation of the Al-Quds 1 district”.
The commander said police drones had spotted IS fighters retreating to the city’s western side via a pedestrian bridge badly damaged in the fighting.
Centcom, the US military command in the Middle East, said the US-led coalition fighting IS had disabled “the last bridge crossing the Tigris river inside Mosul” this week at the Iraqi government’s request.
It said meanwhile that an investigation had been opened after a US-led air raid on an IS van during the Mosul operations on Thursday struck “what was later determined to be a hospital compound parking lot resulting in possible civilian casualties”.
A Mosul inhabitant who requested anonymity reported hearing many explosions and said residents were holed up indoors.
The new push in the battle for Mosul comes after progress slowed to a crawl in the past few weeks.
Iraqi forces advanced Thursday after declaring a new phase in their offensive on eastern Mosul, stepping up efforts to reclaim the Islamic State group’s last major stronghold in the country.
Elite forces have reconquered several parts of eastern Mosul since beginning the massive operation to recapture the northern city from the jihadists on October 17, but IS still occupies the city’s west.
Security chiefs said several neighbourhoods had been taken, with the bodies of IS fighters seen lying on the streets and drone footage showing others retreating.
Retaking Mosul could effectively end the jihadist group’s days as a land-holding force in Iraq and deal a death blow to the “caliphate” IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed in the city in June 2014.
“The second phase of liberating the left bank in Mosul was launched, and our forces began advancing toward Al-Quds neighbourhood,” said Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi, a senior officer in Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service.
“Our forces clashed with the enemy and there is resistance,” he told AFP, adding forces on the northern and southern fronts were also advancing.
Mosul, now the last Iraqi city in which IS still holds significant territory, is split by the Tigris River, with the east side referred to as the left bank and the west as the right.
Iraq’s federal police commander, Raed Shaker Jawdat, said “the enemy’s line of defence has fallen back” inside the city.
“The streets of the Al-Salam, Al-Intisar, Al-Wahda, Al-Falestin and Al-Quds neighbourhoods are strewn with the bodies of Daesh fighters,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
Police had also entered deep into the district of Jadida al-Mufti.
The commanding chief of the offensive, Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir Yarallah, late Thursday announced “the liberation of the Al-Quds 1 district”.
The commander said police drones had spotted IS fighters retreating to the city’s western side via a pedestrian bridge badly damaged in the fighting.
Centcom, the US military command in the Middle East, said the US-led coalition fighting IS had disabled “the last bridge crossing the Tigris river inside Mosul” this week at the Iraqi government’s request.
It said meanwhile that an investigation had been opened after a US-led air raid on an IS van during the Mosul operations on Thursday struck “what was later determined to be a hospital compound parking lot resulting in possible civilian casualties”.
A Mosul inhabitant who requested anonymity reported hearing many explosions and said residents were holed up indoors.
The new push in the battle for Mosul comes after progress slowed to a crawl in the past few weeks.
