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MOSUL, Iraq— Iraqi troops are now in complete control of at least nine districts inside Mosul’s western half near the Old City as the elite Rapid Response force presses forward into more densely populated urban areas west of the Tigris River, embedded Rudaw reporter Ranja Jamal said.
The army has retaken areas surrounding Mosul downtown over the past weeks including a strategic airfield west of the river and large areas southwest of the city.
Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) announced Tuesday that the headquarters for the Nineveh provincial government along with the al-Hurriyah Bridge and western district of Al Dawasa, Al Donavan and Tal al-Ruman had been recaptured by the army.
“The Community of Courts in Mosul and the infamous ISIS courthouse, where militants sentenced people to beheadings and torture, are now in the hands of the army,” said Lieutenant Colonel Abdulamir Muhammadawi, spokesperson for the Rapid Response forces.
Muhammadawi told Rudaw the movement of the Iraqi troops has been slow due to the house-to-house gun-battle with the ISIS snipers and the frequent suicide bombers.
“We support our troops. We target any ISIS movement and give our forces information about the location of the enemy, whether they are fleeing or staying,” said an Iraqi sniper with the Rapid Response forces.
The fierce street clashes have also driven many families out of their homes to seek safety elsewhere in the city, reaching more than 45,000 people just two weeks into the third and current offensive to defeat ISIS in Mosul, the last major stronghold of the extremist group in Iraq.
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