61 villages retaken from Daesh in Mosul: Iraqi police

Nearly 1,400 families also liberated since start of ongoing campaign to retake Daesh-held city

By Ibrahim Salih

BAGHDAD (AA) – Over 60 villages have been retaken from the terrorist group Daesh since the Oct. 18 start of the military campaign to recapture the city of Mosul in Nineveh province, the Iraqi federal police announced Sunday.

"Iraqi forces have retaken 61 villages, liberated some 1,400 kilometers of land, and evacuated about 1,396 displaced families since the start of the Mosul operation,” Lt. Gen. Raed Shakir Jawdat said in a statement on Iraqi state television.

"At least 747 Daesh terrorists have been killed and 88 others arrested during the operation," he added, but gave no figures for losses suffered by the Iraqi army.

On Oct. 18, the Iraqi army – backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes –launched a much-anticipated operation to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, which Daesh overran in mid-2014.

While most of the villages on the city’s outskirts have since fallen, Daesh remains in control of Mosul, the last Daesh stronghold in northern Iraq.

Kaynak: