Airstrikes kill 13 IS members west of Mosul: MoD
An air strike on a residential area in Mosul.
The army’s F-16s destroyed a bomb manufacturing and var booby-trapping workshops, as well as a weapons cache and rest houses belonging to the extremist group in a village at the IS stronghold town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul. Other strikes at the 17 Tamuz (July 17th) and Hawi al-Kanisa districts killed 13 fighters.
Iraqi army forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, recaptured eastern Mosul from Islamic State members in January after three months of fighting. A complementary offensive launched in February to retake the western region.
Iraqi generals say they control 70 percent of the western side of Mosul, and that the total of territory held by IS in Iraq is less than seven percent.
The government troops are still struggling to purge the Old City, home of the Grand Nuri Mosque where Islamic State supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the establishment of the group in 2014.
Coalition commanders estimate the number of remaining IS fighters in Mosul by less than 1000. While those are facing at least 100.000 government and paramilitary soldiers, it is their deployment within civilian communities that has delayed the elimination of the group.