Coalition airstrikes kill 13 ISIS east of Mosul
Representational photo.
The deaths included foreign senior members, according to the source.
Federal Police forces are, meanwhile, advancing at the districts of Wahda, Mithaq and Sabaawi in southeast of the eastern shore of the city.
Earlier on Wednesday, London-based the New Arab reported that at least 40 civilians were killed and scores were wounded in bombardments of liberated areas of Mosul as battles continue between Islamic State militants and Iraqi security forces since dawn.The shelling was concentrated on the districts of al-Nour, al-Falah and al-Quds, east of Mosul, according to the newspaper.
In western Mosul, Al-Hashd al-Shaabi militias said they thwarted an attack by ISIS militants on Wednesday west of the strategic town of Tal Afar. The militia’s media service added that four vehicles belonging to the extremist group were destroyed in the failed attack.
Iraqi government troops, backed by popular mobilization militias and US-led air forces, continue to advance in the eastern section of Mosul against a fierce resistance from ISIS. Iraqi commanders have said they became in control over most of eastern Mosul, and that only a few districts remain to declare the whole region free from ISIS. But the extremist group has reportedly made it a difficult endeavor for the Iraqi troops by relying on street-to-street fights, booby-traps and suicide bombings. The existence of civilians in the battlefield had also slowed down progress, according to Iraqi field commanders.
Iraqi security forces hope to reach the eastern shore of Tigris River as soon as possible so as to proceed towards the western section, where ISIS strongholds have been cut off from group-held territories in Syria, according to popular militias fighting ISIS in that region.