ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Three more villages were retaken from the Islamic State (ISIS) and at least 29 militants were killed on the Makhmour front by the Iraqi army, as part of the ongoing offensive against the group in Shargat and Gayara, in southern Mosul. “The villages of Mehele, Hasriya, and Karma were liberated [from ISIS],” Emin Sheikhani, a Kurdish official within the Iraqi army, told Rudaw. Sheikhani added that ISIS suffered huge casualties among its ranks upon their retreat as 29 militants were gunned down. The pre-dawn assault, which was launched at 4 am, is still ongoing, he added. The assault is part of the massive Mosul offensive and warplanes from the US-led coalition in coordination with Iraqi artillery units have actively been doing their part. Clashes have now stretched to Gayara bridge as the Iraqi army is advancing with heavy weapons. Sheikhani suggested that Gayara bridge will soon be liberated. In other military developments against ISIS, two of the group’s top local leaders in Gayara were killed on Saturday in airstrikes carried out by warplanes from the US-led coalition, a Kurdish official told Rudaw. "Today the coalition warplanes killed Mahdi Luizi, the ISIS Gayara Wali [governor], and Hamadi Khafaji, in charge of ISIS mortars," Ismat Rajab, a Kurdish official from Mosul, now in exile, told Rudaw. The Iraqi army launched military operations to retake Gayara and Shargat, two strategic towns in southern Mosul, on June 18. Gayara is a large town on the Tigris River, 80 kilometres south of Mosul. By capturing Gayara and neighbouring Shargat, the Iraqi army will edge closer to Mosul, ISIS’ main stronghold in Iraq. In the meantime, Baghdad announced another offensive against ISIS in Anbar province's far eastern town of Khalidiya Jazira, which has long been held by the militant group.
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