Iraqi troops retake more districts in Mosul’s Old City
Armoured fighting vehicles of the Counter Terrorism Service maneuver at the positions of the Iraqi forces near the Grand al-Nuri Mosque at the Old City in Mosul, Iraq June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro
“Federal Police troops freed Bab Jadid and Souq al-Arbe’a regions,” the command said in a statement on Saturday. The troops also gained control on the Iron Bridge in the Old City.
Earlier on Saturday, Lt.Gen.Shaker Jawdat, chief of Federal Police, announced liberatin of al-Shifa district, located north of the Old City, adding that troops were able to reach to the Tigris River bank.
Another statement by Lt.Gen.Thamer al-Husseini, chief of the Rapid Response troops, declared the liberation of the Public Hospital, the Republican Hospital, al-Batool Hospital and the Educational Hospital, all in al-Shifa district.
Battles in al-Shifa district have been ongoing against IS fighters since beginning of June.
On Friday, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service retook Shaarin market, Nabi Girgis and Abd Khoub in the Old City. The forces, according to JOC, consummated the recapture the of al-Farouq area, which falls adjacent to the Nuri al-Kabir Mosque where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed the group’s rule over Iraq in 2014.
The final liberation of Mosul, according to CTS Commander Abdul-Ghani al-Assadi, could be achieved within a few days. Only between 200 and 300 IS fighters were remaining in the city,