Battle for Mosul: Iraqi Special Forces «Break Front Line»

Local Editor

Iraqi forces fighting the Takfiri Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"] in Mosul had broken through the front line without suffering any losses, a spokesman said.

Sabah al-Numan, a spokesman for the Counter Terrorism Service [CTS], said that many Daesh insurgents had been killed.

The Iraqi Army and popular mobilization forces entered the city's outskirts for the first time on Tuesday since the city was seized in June 2014.

Wednesday is the 17th day of the anti-Daesh operation, which involves 50,000 personnel including Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Arab tribesmen.

Elite troops seized control of the state TV building in Kukjali on Tuesday hours after launching an assault on the eastern district and later breached the outskirts of the Karama district.

Al-Numan said, "We broke the front line of the center of Mosul. We liberated a very important area which is the main gate for Mosul from the east."

"We had a very tough fight with ‘ISIS' in this area and we could liberate it very fast and also without any casualties, in front of many dead and executed from ‘ISIS'," he went on to say.

Mosul is last major urban stronghold of Daesh in the country.

According to the military, army units are also pushing into the south-eastern Judaydat al-Mufti area.

The operation is backed by air and ground support from a US-led coalition.

On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told the 3,000 to 5,000 militants believed to still be inside Mosul that there was "no escape" and to "either surrender or die".

About 1,000 of the militants are thought to be foreigners. Gen Talib Shaghati al-Kenani said they came from Uzbekistan, Turkey and other countries.

"Those are a group of terrorists who fight Iraqis and usurp their cities," Gen Kenani said.

Many people had fled the area but some civilians had returned to their homes in villages around Mosul.

As Mosul is encircled, UN officials expressed concern for the safety of the 1.5 million civilians estimated to be living there.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday that it had received fresh reports of mass killings and forced relocations carried out by Daesh.

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq said 1,792 people were killed in October, 1,120 of whom were civilians.

Source: BBC, Edited by website team