Mosul airport ‘totally liberated’ from Daesh: Iraq army

By Amir al-Saadi, Ali Jawad and Mohamed Walid

NINEVEH, Iraq

Iraqi forces on Friday managed to capture Mosul’s international airport from the Daesh terrorist group, according to a high-ranking Federal Police source.

“The airport has been totally liberated and Federal Police units are now advancing on western Mosul’s Al-Tayaran district,” Federal Police Commander Raed Jawdat said in a brief statement.

On Thursday, Iraqi security forces stormed the airport, establishing control over roughly half of it, according to statements issued by the army.

Army First Lieutenant Nayif al-Zubeidi told Anadolu Agency that Daesh militants had been forced to withdraw from the airport amid intense bombardments by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition warplanes.

In a separate operation Friday, the army -- with coalition air support -- wrested control of the Al-Ghazlani Camp, considered Daesh’s largest military camp in Mosul, Army General Abdullah Amir Yarullah said in a statement published by the army’s media office.

On Sunday, the Iraqi army began a wide-ranging operation aimed at purging remaining Daesh terrorists from Mosul’s western districts.

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