US-led coalition doubles number of advisers in Mosul

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The U.S.-led coalition has doubled the number of advisers for Iraqi security forces seeking to oust Daesh from its de facto Iraqi capital, an official confirmed Wednesday.

Coalition spokesman Air Force Col. John Dorrian told reporters via video link from Baghdad that the coalition has roughly 450 advisers on the ground to support the critical effort in Mosul.

The coalition has "increased the number of advise and assist forces that are there with the Iraqi security forces command elements to help advise them as they move forward and to synchronize operations," he said.

They include engineers, special operations forces, and intelligence officers, said Dorrian, adding that the increase occurred in the "last couple of weeks".

Iraqi authorities recently announced the recapture of Mosul’s Al-Wahda district from Daesh in the city's southern suburbs.

Daesh seized Mosul in its entirety from Iraqi forces in 2014, later entrenching themselves in the dense urban setting.

Efforts to retake the city have been met with fierce resistance, and a planned goal to retake the city by the end of 2016 could not be achieved.

Seven Iraqi soldiers were killed Wednesday in a suicide car-bomb attack in Mosul.

The same day, Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abdel Wahab al-Saadi of Iraq’s anti-terrorism agency told Anadolu Agency that Iraqi forces had managed to "liberate" 43 districts of western Mosul since the campaign to recapture the city began last October.