DOHUK, Iraq
Iraq's Vice President Usama al-Nujayfi called for more military support ahead of a planned attack for retrieving Mosul, the second largest city in the country, from ISIL control.
"For us to go into this war strongly, we need to receive more reinforcement," said Nujayfi, in a visit to the campsite in Dohuk of Iraqi Kurdish region, where groups of soldiers are trained to face Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants, or ISIL.
ISIL captured Mosul in June in an attack that stunned the nation and the world, stirring attempts to block and remove the influence of the insurgents in the oil-rich country.
A U.S.-led coalition has been launching airstrikes on ISIL strongholds since August 2014, while many countries sent military supplies and started to train Iraqi army as well as Kurdish forces, which confront ISIL together.
Meanwhile, nine people have been killed and 26 others have been wounded in several incidents on Saturday in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, police sources said.
Accompanying Vice President Nujayfi in the visit, Iraqi Defense Minister Khalid al-Obeidi said that they anticipate more weapons to be received soon.
"We have a problem of armament. We expect the weapons pledged by Baghdad and the coalition powers to arrive," said Obeidi. Mosul Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi was also with the vice president and the minister during the visit.
Obeidi also said Iraqi army forces would move in cooperation with other forces in the country allied against ISIL.
Meanwhile, clashes between ISIL and joined forces of peshmerga and Iraqi army are still ongoing in east of Mosul, in Makhmor and Gwer fronts, which a delegation of Iraqi officials visited earlier on Friday.
