Airstrike kills Daesh militants in W. Mosul: Iraqi army

By Amir al-Saadi

BAGHDAD

Iraqi warplanes killed at least 50 Daesh militants in an airstrike that targeted Daesh sites in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi army said Monday.

“Based on information obtained by the General Directorate of Intelligence and Security... our aircraft inflicted painful blows against Daesh targets in Mosul," read an Iraqi army statement.

"According to our intelligence sources, the airstrikes killed at least 50 terrorists and destroyed several Daesh installations in the area,” the statement added.

The army went on to assert that Monday’s strikes had targeted Mosul’s western Al-Baaj district and the nearby villages of Talaat al-Markab and Amar Arida.

In February, Iraqi ground forces -- backed by U.S.-led coalition air power -- began fresh operations aimed at ousting Daesh militants from western Mosul, the terrorist group’s last bastion in northern Iraq.

The offensive is part of a wider campaign launched last October to retake the entire city, which Daesh overran in mid-2014.