Iraqi forces block Islamic State counter-attack in western Mosul – officers

(Reuters/IraqiNews.com) U.S.-backed Iraqi forces advancing in the Islamic State group’s stronghold in western Mosul fought off a counter-attack by the militants during bad weather in the early hours of Thursday, officers said.

Some militants were able to get near elite Iraqi units in the southwestern part of the city, hidden among people displaced by the fighting, a senior officer told Reuters.

Iraqi forces captured the eastern side of Mosul in January after 100 days of fighting and launched their attack on the districts that lie west of the Tigris river on Feb. 19.

Defeating Islamic State in Mosul would crush the Iraqi wing of the caliphate declared by the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in 2014.

The police command said recently that more than 900 IS militants were killed since operations for western Mosul launched, with the forces approaching to vital government facilities at the center of the city. The U.S.-led coalition’s command said Wednesday that a maximum of 2000 IS fighters remain in the western region, with most of the senior leaders close to the supreme commander dead.

At least 26.000 civilians have fled western Mosul due to the fighting, the migration ministry said, while the United Nations warns of displacement of at least 250.000.