Iraqi army pushes to eliminate last IS pockets in Mosul

Baghdad, July 10 (IANS) The Iraqi Army was on Monday trying to retake the final pockets still occupied by the Islamic State terror organisation in the old part of the city of Mosul, an official said.

General Shokr al-Nueimi, Commander of Army Brigade 73, said clashes between the Army and IS continued in Mosul, where explosions of artillery shells were heard and dense columns of smoke caused by the bombing of Iraqi aviation were seen.

The military official said that his brigade's soldiers continued to clean up the area of al-Shahwan, where in the past hours they killed 11 IS extremists, including suicide bombers and snipers, Efe news reported.

The General added that they have evacuated several hundred families who were trapped and arrested 15 radicals, seven of whom surrendered unarmed.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi arrived in Mosul on Sunday to announce the total liberation of the city from the yoke of IS.

The offensive to expel IS from Mosul and the entire province of Nineveh, whose capital is Mosul, began in October 2016.

Since then, Iraqi troops, backed by militias and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, managed to regain most parts of the city, occupied by IS in 2014.

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