IS suicide bombers attack Iraqi troops in western Mosul district
Islamic State members. File photo.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State suicide bombers attacked Iraqi troops on Wednesday with booby-trapped cars at a district in western Mosul where intense encounters continue as the group’s domains shrink.
Rudaw network said the militants attacked the forces with five booby-trapped vehicles at al-Rifaie district, but said no word was given regarding casualties.
On Monday, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command urged Iraqi civilians to avoid using cars or motorbikes for transportation, saying that troops would target those vehicles as IS continues to use them in their attacks against government forces.
Iraqi government forces have become close to retaking western Mosul and declaring the full recapture of the city that fell in IS grip in 2014. The eastern section was retaken in January.
On Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Yahia Rasoul, spokesperson of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, said Iraqi troops became in control over 89.5 percent of territory at western Mosul, having killed more than 16000 militants since the launch of Mosul operations in October. Other commanders had predicted to recapture the city before the end of this month.
Iraqi government forces are eyeing the ancient, densely structured and populated Old City, the place where Islamic State’s supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of an “Islamic Caliphate” in 2014. Troops besieged the area for weeks from the south, but turned to the northwestern axis to invade the city earlier this month. IS fighters are believed to have been holding hundreds of thousands at that area as human shields.