By Mohamed Waleed and Sarhad Shakir
NINEVEH, Iraq (AA) – Some 30 percent of western Mosul’s old district has been “liberated” from the Daesh terrorist group, an Iraqi security source said Wednesday.
“Federal police and rapid-response units have established total control over the old district’s Al-Arbiaa market, Halab Street, Al-Korneesh, Karaj al-Naql, and Bab Sinjar districts,” Police Maj. Reda Ali al-Khafaji told Anadolu Agency.
Iraqi forces, however, continue to engage in fierce street fighting with Daesh militants in western Mosul’s Al-Farouk and Al-Bursa neighborhoods, al-Khafaji said.
Police Maj. Eid Mohamed al-Abdali told Anadolu Agency that 13 districts of western Mosul “still remain under Daesh control”.
In February, Iraqi ground forces — backed by a U.S.-led air coalition — began fresh operations aimed at driving Daesh militants from western Mosul, the terrorist group’s last stronghold in northern Iraq.
The offensive is part of a wider campaign launched last October aimed at retaking the entire city, which Daesh overran in mid-2014.
