Police: 25 IS militants killed in central Mosul offensive
Federal Police Captain Raed Shaker Jawdat. Archival photo.
The service’s chief, Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat, said police commandos and Rapd Response forces members launched attacks from three axes on Bab al-Toub district, killing 25 militants, including three suicide bombers, and destroyed nine booby-trapped vehicles belonging to the extremist group.
Jawdat added that his forces continue to evacuate migrant families from battlefields to camps in Khazer and Hammam al-Alil, both in Mosul.
The Iraqi government launched a major offensive in February to retake western Mosul from Islamic State militants. The forces recaptured the eastern side of the city late January after three months of fighting.
In the western region, Iraqi forces have made remarkable gains, taking over a government complex last week that hosts the governor’s office, a main central bank branch, a police department, a courthouse and other public facilities. The forces had earlier retaken the city’s airport and biggest military camp.
The army’s Counter-Terrorism Service said last week government forces had become in control over 60 percent of the western side. Generals from the Iraqi side and the allied U.S.-led coalition had estimated six months needed to fully liberate the city which fell to the extremist group in 2014.