Libyan Islamic State leader killed in security offensive west of Mosul
Federal police members aim their weapons at a man, whom they thought was a member of Islamic State but later turned out to be mentally handicapped, during a battle with Islamic State fighters at Bab al Beed district in the old city of Mosul
REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal
Federal Police chief, Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat, said Khaled ibn al-Waleed, a prominent IS leader, and five of his sentry, were killed when security troops pounded the group’s main police headquarter in the city.
He also said 40 IS members were killed in police bombardment on al-Zanjili district, and became close to the fifth of bridges linking western and eastern Mosul.
Jawdat added that other IS casualties fell down when a drone guided by militants mistakenly bombarded their gathering near the Grand Nuri Mosque in the Old City, an area besieged by the forces for weeks.
The developments come as Iraqi commanders say they recaptured Mesherfa and most of Haramat and 30 Tamuz (July 30th) districts which fall on the northwestern axis of operations, a new front which Iraqi forces resorted to having found it difficult to invade the Old City from the south.
Iraqi troops took over eastern Mosul from the Islamic State in January, and have been advancing through the west since mid February, recently claiming control over 70 percent of that region.
*correction: 17th Tamuz district corrected to 30th Tamuz