Iraqi troops capture 3 more neighborhoods in eastern Mosul

More than 100,000 people make up the Iraqi-led coalition in the operation to take Mosul, including ethnic and religious minority groups, such as Shia, Kurdish and Christian groups.

After cutting off Mosul from the rest of the territory held by ISIS, Iraqi Kurdish and Shi’ite forces have agreed to coordinate movements in their advance, USA and Iraqi officials said yesterday.

The attack took place near a village called Shomali, about 12km southeast of Baghdad.

“The joining of these forces greatly reduces the freedom of movement of ISIL insurgents in and out of Mosul”, said Air Force Col. John Dorrian, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the USA -led coalition, referring to Islamic State.

“A large truck exploded among them”.

“The militants launched nine suicide vehicle bombing attacks when we were trying to take that street”, said Mohammed who fought against IS since October 31, pointing at the crossroad about 50 meters away where nearby houses were destroyed.

“There are at least 70 dead, fewer than 10 are Iraqis, the rest are Iranians”. The targeted centre hosted media workers from jihadi al-Bayan Radio and the Amaq News Agency.

After more than a month of military operations against IS militants in Mosul, nearly 68,550 civilians have fled their homes and the number went up every day, according to latest report by the Unites Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Mosul’s civilians were told by Iraqi officials they should stay in their homes as forces prepared to enter the city – a crown jewel in ISIS’ envisaged caliphate – where a bloody battle was widely expected. There could be a million more people still in Mosul, most clustered on the west of the Tigris river, where the fighting has not reached.

HILLA, Iraq (AP) – A auto bomb tore through a gas station south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 56 people, including 20 Iranians, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

“They (terrorists) can not flee”.

Iraqi military commander Dhiya al-Gharbawi told The New Arab that additional federal forces have been sent to support the PMU in the assault on Tal Afar, which lies about 50 kilometres west of Mosul and is still under the control of the jihadists.

The US-led coalition also blew up bridges over the Tigris River that splits Mosul in two, reducing the militants’ ability to resupply the eastern front.

The U.S. troops in Mosul are assisting in a campaign to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS.

“The fight for Mosul has only just begun”.

He went on to note that Iraqi forces had also recently moved into Mosul’s northeastern Al-Amin and Al-Jameaa districts after driving Daesh terrorists out both areas.

Iraqi military medics rushed a man whose mouth had been blown apart by mortar shrapnel into their temporary field clinic on the eastern edges of Mosul.

The authorities have not released casualty figures since the start of the offensive but fighters have admitted being surprised by how fierce ISIS resistance has been.

Iran-backed forces succeeded in cutting the road link between the IS (Daesh)-held town of Tel Afar – located 50km from Mosul – and Kurdish-controlled town of Sinjar – located 45km further west – Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization announced.