Mosul: Iraqi forces push deeper into country's east as Islamic State leader pledges no retreat

Updated November 05, 2016 08:41:57

Photo: CTS special forces have taken over Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama districts. (Reuters: Zohra Bensemra)

Iraqi special forces said they had recaptured six districts of eastern Mosul, expanding the army's foothold in the Islamic State group bastion, a day after its leader told his jihadist followers there could be no retreat.

Key points:

"Large parts of left bank liberated," Counter Terrorism Service says, referring to half of Mosul
Resident says clashes continue, calls it "true urban warfare"
IS group tells residents to hand over boys over nine, in apparent child soldier recruitment

An officer in the elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), which has spearheaded the Mosul offensive, said troops had launched a major operation against the militants who were now almost surrounded in their last major urban redoubt in Iraq.

CTS special forces took over Malayeen, Samah, Khadra, Karkukli, Quds and Karama districts, the army said.

Major-General Thamer al-Husseini later said Federal Police forces had entered a district of Hammam al-Alil — the Islamic State group stronghold about 20 kilometres south of Mosul.

"We have Hammam al-Alil covered from more than one side, and I think within hours we will be able to announce to the Iraqi people the clearing of Hammam al-Alil and surrounding areas," Mr Husseini said.

"This is something very big — it means large parts of the left bank have been liberated," CTS Commander Lieutenant-General Talib Shaghati said, referring to the half of Mosul which lies on the east bank of the Tigris.

However, a resident of one district, which the army declared recaptured, told Reuters after the announcement that clashes continued.

"It's true urban warfare," he said.

"My children haven't slept for two days … bullets and shells are coming from everywhere."

The territory taken by the Government still amounts to just a fraction of the sprawling city, which is divided into dozens of residential and industrial districts and was home to 2 million people before it was captured by Islamic State group in 2014.

The battle to drive the fighters out is the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the United States' invasion in 2003, and is likely to decide the fate of the self-proclaimed Islamic State group caliphate that has defied the world for two years.

Districts captured so far, however, are less built-up than other areas, particularly those on the west bank of the Tigris, where the population is more exclusively Sunni Muslim Arab and the hardline Sunni Islamists could be more deeply embedded.

Iraqi officers and those from a US-led coalition providing air and ground support to the offensive say progress has been faster than expected but stress the operation is still in its early stages.

Tribal fighters walk as fire and smoke rises from oil wells set ablaze by Islamic State militants.

Photo: Iraqi troops, Shiite militias, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters launched the battle for Mosul two weeks ago. (Reuters: Alaa Al-Marjani, file)

Baghdadi vows no retreat in 'total war'

Iraqi regular troops and special forces, Shi'ite militias, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and other groups backed by US-led air strikes launched their campaign to retake Mosul nearly three weeks ago.

Winning back the city would crush the Iraqi half of a cross-border caliphate declared by Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from a Mosul mosque two years ago.

Islamic State group also holds large parts of neighbouring Syria, but Mosul is by far the largest city under control of the ultra-hardline militants in either country — many times bigger than any other city the militants have held.

In a speech released on Thursday, Baghdadi said there could be no retreat in a "total war" against the forces arrayed against Islamic State group, telling fighters they must remain loyal to their commanders.

Baghdadi's whereabouts are unknown.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said intelligence suggested he had "vacated the scene", and a Kurdish intelligence source said he was believed to be in the region of Baaj, about 130 kilometres west of Mosul.

Photo: Residents are told to hand over boys above the age of nine, in an apparent recruitment drive for child soldiers. (Reuters: Zohra Bensemra)

Residents told to hand over boys over nine

United Nations' human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said Islamic State group fighters had killed hundreds of people, including 50 deserters and 180 former Iraqi government employees, around Mosul.

They have also transported 1,600 people from the town of Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, to Tal Afar to the west — possibly for use as human shields against air strikes, and told residents to hand over boys above the age of nine, in an apparent recruitment drive for child soldiers.

The number of people displaced since the start of the Mosul campaign jumped to 30,000.

The figures do not include thousands of people from outlying villages forced to head to Mosul by retreating Islamic State group fighters who used them as human shields.

Mosul residents, speaking to Reuters by telephone, said Islamic State group fighters were deploying artillery and rocket launchers in and near residential areas.

People in southern and eastern neighbourhoods said on Thursday night that their houses had been shaken by artillery and rocket barrages launched from their districts towards the advancing troops.