UPDATE - Iraqi forces retake 4 villages west of Mosul from Daesh

ADDS QUOTES FROM IRAQI MINISTER, ARMY

By Ali Jawad and Hussein al-Amir

BAGHDAD (AA) - Pro-government fighters on Thursday captured four villages and a strategic road west of the northern city of Mosul from Daesh terrorists, according to an Iraqi army officer.

“Hashd al-Shaabi fighters wrested control of the villages of Al-Wahbi, Arfie, Arfie Awwal and Amlihat,” Army First Lieutenant Samir Dawood said.

He added that the Hashd al-Shaabi -- a mostly Shia fighting force incorporated into the Iraqi armed forces last year -- had also captured the road linking the nearby Al-Adnaniyah and Baaj districts.

In a related development, more than 200 civilians were evacuated from Mosul’s Old City, Iraqi Police Captain Jabbar Hassan told Anadolu Agency.

The latest developments come within the context of a wide-ranging army offensive, launched last October, aimed at dislodging Daesh militants from Mosul, which the terrorist group overran in mid-2014.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi military on Thursday urged the civilian population living Daesh-controlled areas in western Mosul to “leave the region immediately”.

Resid Yarallah, a commander in the Mosul operation, made the call during a televised statement, saying that civilians in the region were being used human shields by the terror group.

Fehd Abdulhalik, an official from Iraq’s Interior Ministry, told Anadolu Agency that Daesh militants had detained 150 men -- aged between 17 and 40 -- for cooperating with Iraqi security forces.

Abdulhalik said his sources informed him that the terrorist organization did not have a location in which to hold the detainees or the food and water to sustain them, and might soon decide to kill them.

Urgent action was needed to rescue the men, the ministry official added, without offering any details on rescue efforts.