Iraqi army says third of old western Mosul retaken

By Mohamed Waleed and Sarhad Shakir

NINEVEH, Iraq (AA) - Some 30 percent of western Mosul’s old district has been “liberated” from the Daesh terrorist group, an Iraqi security source said Wednesday.

“Federal police and rapid-response units have established total control over the old district’s Al-Arbiaa market, Halab Street, Al-Korneesh, Karaj al-Naql, and Bab Sinjar districts,” Police Maj. Reda Ali al-Khafaji told Anadolu Agency.

Iraqi forces, however, continue to engage in fierce street fighting with Daesh militants in western Mosul’s Al-Farouk and Al-Bursa neighborhoods, al-Khafaji said.

Police Maj. Eid Mohamed al-Abdali told Anadolu Agency that 13 districts of western Mosul “still remain under Daesh control”.

In February, Iraqi ground forces -- backed by a U.S.-led air coalition -- began fresh operations aimed at driving Daesh militants from western Mosul, the terrorist group’s last stronghold in northern Iraq.

The offensive is part of a wider campaign launched last October aimed at retaking the entire city, which Daesh overran in mid-2014.