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Iraqi forces take over major IS haven in western Mosul, kill 2 senior leaders

 Iraqi forces take over major IS haven in western Mosul, kill 2 senior leaders

Smoke is seen as members of the Iraqi Army clash with Islamic State fighters at a frontline in north west of Mosul, Iraq, May 5, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Smoke is seen as members of the Iraqi Army clash with Islamic State fighters at a frontline in north west of Mosul, Iraq, May 5, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi government forces took over a major district held by Islamic State militants and killed two senior leaders on Friday as they advanced to liberate the western side of Mosul.

The army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service recaptured Islah al-Zeraee district, an Islamic State bastion in the western side of the city, said commander of the Nineveh Operations, Abdul-Amir Yarallah, in a statement.

Meanwhile, Federal Police chief Shaker Jawdat said in a separate statement that his forces retook al-Nour civil hospital as well as a school used by IS militants as a booby-trapping factory south of the strategic, IS-held Old City.

He said troops killed Abu Ali al-Basrawi, the group’s so-designated “legal official” for Mosul, Abu Youssef al-Masri, the so-called “sustenance official” and the latter’s aide, Radwan al-Maslawi.

Islah al-Zeraee district, western Mosul (google maps)

According to Jawdat, three other suicide bombers were als killed near Bilal al-Habashi mosque in the Old City.

In the northwestern axis of operations, which government forces began to move through last week, the forces continued to engage in fierce encounters at al-Ektisadiyeen district, another major neighborhood adjacent to the Old City.

Iraqi forces recaptured eastern Mosul in January and generals said recently they became in control over nearly 90 percent of the western region.

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