Western Mosul to be fully liberated on Friday, military official expects

















Mosul (IraqiNews.com) An Iraqi army official in Nineveh province has expected full liberation of the western side of Mosul by end of this week.
“Iraqi troops were able to retake most the regions and districts in western Mosul from Islamic State militants,” a commander in the Iraqi army told Sputnik on Tuesday, expecting the whole region to be freed by Friday.
In a statement earlier on Tuesday, Federal Police Chief Lt.Gen. Shaker Jawdat announced his troops are in control of 80 percent of Iqtisidayeen and 17 Tamuz (July 17th) districts, in addition to eight other pivotal targets that were previously retaken.
“The troops shelled IS defenses as well as their headquarters in north of the Old City and killed dozens of the militants. Fifteen square km were freed, 168 booby-trapped vehicles were destroyed, 200 landmines were removed while 24 bombs were defused,” he added.
“Six families detained by IS in 17 Tamuz were freed. They were kept for several days inside one of the houses with the doors locked and the house booby-trapped to prevent them escape,” he added.
“The total number of families evacuated from battlefields have reached 850 so far since the start of the last phase of military operations in western Mosul on May 6,” Jawdat said.
In a press conference, the Joint Operations Command declared on Tuesday controlling 89.5 percent of western Mosul and killing 16,467 members of Islamic State since beginning of operations in western Mosul.
Iraqi commanders had predicted recapturing the remaining parts of the city this month




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