Over 90 Daesh boats struck in Mosul: US coalition

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) – The U.S.-led anti-Daesh coalition said Saturday it struck more than 90 boats and three barges trying to ferry the terror group's members attempting to flee parts of Iraq.

Daesh's militants were seeking to cross the Tigris River to west Mosul as Iraqi security forces secured the city's eastern half, the coalition said.

Iraqi forces earlier this week secured all five bridges connecting the city's halves.

"We believe this was a desperate attempt to retrograde ISIL fighters now that the Iraqi Security Forces own the Eastern bank of every bridge in Mosul," coalition spokesman Col. John Dorrian said in a statement. "This is one more example of how the Coalition is supporting the military defeat of ISIL by launching air strikes while Iraqi military complete the clearance of Eastern Mosul."

Last October, the Iraqi army, backed by the coalition and local allies on the ground, began a wide-ranging campaign to retake Mosul, which Daesh overran in mid-2014.