Scores of Daesh militants killed amid Mosul operation

By Ali Sheikho

BAGHDAD

Scores of Daesh militants were killed in western Mosul on Tuesday as part of a major offensive to drive the terrorist group from the northern city, according to an Iraqi military commander.

General Abdul Amir Yarullah, commander of the Mosul operation, said Iraqi forces killed 52 militants in the city’s western part.

“The forces destroyed 12 car-bombs and cleared army-captured areas from explosives,” he said in a news briefing.

Meanwhile, 64 Daesh militants were killed in airstrikes by Iraqi air force in western Mosul on Tuesday, Yarullah said, adding that U.S.-led coalition airstrikes also killed 35 militants in the area.

In mid-February, Iraqi army forces -- backed by a U.S.-led air coalition -- began fresh operations aimed at purging remaining Daesh terrorists from Mosul’s western districts.

Iraqi forces have reportedly captured four major districts in western Mosul since the offensive began.

The anti-Daesh offensive is part of a wider operation launched last October to retake the entire city, which the terrorist group overran -- along vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq -- in mid-2014.