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Nine Iraqi soldiers killed storming western Mosul district

 Nine Iraqi soldiers killed storming western Mosul district

Iraqi Federal Police fight in the frontline at Bab al Jadid district as the battle against Islamic State’s fighters continues in the old city of Mosul. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal

Iraqi Federal Police fight in the frontline at Bab al Jadid district as the battle against Islamic State’s fighters continues in the old city of Mosul. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Nine Iraqi army members, including two officers, were killed while storming a new district in western Mosul to drive out Islamic State militants, a security source said Wednesday.

Anadolu Agency quoted Brig. Gen. Saad al-Sayer, from the army’s Counter-Terrorism Forces, saying the personnel were killed during an invasion of Yarmouk district, west of Mosul. He said troops advanced more than two kilometers inside the district after more than 13 hours of fighting.

Thirty-two IS members were killed in the encounters, according to Sayer. Three suicide attacks were foiled.

Yarmouk district, western Mosul (google maps).

Intense fights are running in al-Tanak neighborhood, south of Mosul, according to Sayer, who said that initial information revealed that Abu Yahia al-Zahrani, a senior field commander for IS, was killed in the battles.

Iraqi forces recaptured eastern Mosul in January after three months of fighting to retake the city that fell to Islamic State extremists in 2014. Another offensive was launched in February to retake the western side of the city.

Police and supporting forces said recently they became closer to the Old City’s Nuri al-Kabir mosque, where IS supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of the group’s rule in Iraq and Syria. They had earlier recaptured the city’s airport and biggest military base besides several other districts since the launch of the campaign. The army’s leadership said recently government troops became in control over 50 percent of the region.

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