Iraqi army says third of old western Mosul retaken

By Mohamed Waleed and Sarhad Shakir

NINEVEH, Iraq

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.