UPDATED: Counter-terrorism service denies IS attacks on eastern Mosul
Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) run with their weapons during clashes with Islamic State militants in frontline near university of Mosul, Iraq, January 13, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
A spokesperson of the service, Sabah al-Nuaman, said security forces were in “full control” over the situation.
Earlier on Monday, news reports said Islamic State militants attacked Iraqi security forces in the recently recaptured eastern section of Mosul, with civilian and army deaths reported.
Alqurtas News website quoted sources as saying that Iraqi army soldiers exchanged fire with Islamic State militants who were hiding among civilians in al-Muthanna district. Four army soldiers and three attackers were killed in the fighting, the sources said.
Iraqi website Al Sharqyia also said armed fights flared between the group and security forces in the eastern section on Monday. It quoted unnamed sources as saying that the militants, boarding civilian vehicles, and believed to belong to dormant Islamic State cells, shot at the forces at al-Samah and al-Bakr districts. The website said there were civilian casualties according to initial tolls.
The sources said that the withdrawal of security troops from some regions had caused a “security void” that resulted in occasional armed assaults by the group, with some seen boarding vehicles and touring those regions.
As the counter-terrorism force denied any attacks on Monday, Bas News quoted a military source as saying that army forces had pushed back Islamic State attackers at the north of the city.
Colonel Saleh Sharif, from the Joint Operations Command, told the website that troops fought back an attack by Islamic State militants at Baisan region. He said while dozens of militants were killed in the encounter, “our troops also sustained casualties,” but did not give a definite toll.
Iraqi forces recaptured eastern Mosul on January 24th after three months of battles to retake the city. Preparations are undergoing for another major offensive against the group in the west.
IS had used to attack areas retaken by government troops since operations launched in October, and recent reports have said security managed to thwart attacks by group militants coming from the west.