Iraqi forces link up in north Mosul, make gains in southeast

It comes as a new report said violence and military operations claimed the lives of more than 16,000 civilians in Iraq last year, making it one of the deadliest years for war-weary Iraqis since the 2003 US-led invasion.

Iraqi security forces detain a suspected ISIL fighter during a military operation on the eastern side of Mosul, Iraq on January 12, 2017. Khalid Mohammed/AP Photo

BAGHDAD // Iraqi forces joined flanks in northern Mosul and drove back ISIL militants in the south-east on Thursday in a renewed push that has brought them closer to controlling the eastern half of the city.

Forces from the elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) took control of 7th Nissan and Sadeeq districts, linking up with army troops that had pushed through Al Hadba neighbourhood, CTS spokesman Sabah Al Numan said.

“This is considered contact between the troops of the northern front and CTS. This ... will prevent any gap between the axes which the enemy could use,” he said. “The enemy is now located only in front of the troops, not at their sides.”

Mr Al Numan said more than 85 per cent of eastern Mosul was now under control of pro-government forces, up from nearly 75 per cent a week ago.

Brett McGurk, Washington’s envoy to the US-led coalition backing the Iraqi offensive, called the link-up a “milestone” and said in a tweet that ISIL’s defences were weakening.

The campaign to recapture Mosul, ISIL’s last major stronghold in Iraq and the largest urban centre anywhere in the sprawling territory it once controlled, has pushed ahead with renewed vigour since the turn of the year after troops got bogged down inside the city in late November and December.

New tactics, including a night raid, better defences against suicide car bomb attacks and improved coordination between the army and security forces operating on different fronts, have helped forge momentum, US and Iraqi officers say.

When it launched the offensive in October, the Iraqi government hoped to have retaken the city by the end of 2016, but Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi said in December it could now take another three months to drive the militants out.

ISIL’s loss of Mosul would probably spell the end for the Iraqi side of its self-styled caliphate, which it declared after sweeping through parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, though militants will likely still be able to wage an insurgency in both countries and plan attacks on the West.

Violence and military operations claimed the lives of more than 16,000 civilians in Iraq last year, a research group said on Thursday, making it one of the deadliest years for war-weary Iraqis since the 2003 US-led invasion.

In its annual report, the London-based Iraq Body Count reported that 16,361 Iraqi civilians died in 2016. The northern province of Nineveh was the worst hit, with 7,431 people killed. The capital, Baghdad, was next with 3,714 civilians killed, the research showed.

* Reuters