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Iraqi forces launch offensive to free Mosul from IS militants

Xinhua, March 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

Iraqi security forces on Thursday waged the first stage of an offensive against Islamic State (IS) militants to flush them out from the city of Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, a military statement and a provincial official said.

"The offensive to liberate Nineveh province started at dawn and raised the Iraqi flag on some villages by the hands of our heroic forces," a military statement said.

Salih al-Jubouri, mayor of the IS-held town of Qayyara south of Mosul, told Xinhua that government troops advanced in three routes from their bases near the town of Makhmour, some 50 km southeast of Mosul, toward Qayyara.

The troops' advance came after heavy bombardment by Iraqi artillery and U.S.-led coalition aircraft on IS positions in the villages of Kodila, Krimdi and Haj Ali near Qayyara, Jubouri said.

There is no immediate report about casualties, he said, adding that the fighting is continuing. Endit