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Spotlight: Iraqi forces advance into Mosul city limits on eastern line

Xinhua, November 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

Iraqi security forces on Monday advanced into the city limits of Mosul for the first time after two weeks of a massive offensive to dislodge Islamic State (IS) militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq.

The important development, on the eastern line of the battle to retake Iraq's second-largest city, came after heavy clashes between Iraqi troops and the hardline IS militants.

"The counter-terrorism forces fought fierce clashes with the IS, and managed to enter Gogjali district on the left side of Mosul (eastern side of the city)," said Lieutenant General Talib Shaghati, commander of Iraq's Joint Operations Command (JOC).

Gogjali is an industrial zone on Mosul's outskirts. Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, a commander of the Iraqi army's Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) forces, told state television his forces had recaptured the industrial area, reaching the edge of the Karama district inside the city.

Monday's military operation east of Mosul began at the dawn of the day. An assault on Bazwaya, the last IS-held village on the city's eastern edge, was carried out by Iraqi forces with the support of artillery fire and airstrikes on IS positions.

IS militants have been fighting off the offensive with mortar fire, rocket bombs, snipers and suicide car bombs, media reports said.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, at the Qayyara military airbase south of Mosul, said the Iraqi forces were trying to close off all escape routes for the several thousand IS militants inside Mosul.

"They have no escape, they either die or surrender," he told state television.

Iraqi forces, Kurdish peshmerga fighters, Sunni tribesmen and Iran-backed Shiite militias are currently engaged in the major offensive to retake Mosul that started on Oct. 17. The operation is estimated to take weeks, if not months.

Progress has also been made on front lines in other directions around Mosul. Iraqi troops on the southern line are reportedly over 30 km off the city limits, while forces aided by Iranian military advisers have been heading to Tal Afar, some 55 km west off Mosul.

Entering Gogjali could be the start of more difficult, house-to-house fighting in urban areas.

Mosul, with a population of 1.5 million people and some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014. Its recapture would mark the IS militants' effective defeat in the Iraqi half of the territory they seized.

The United Nations has warned of a displacement of up to 1 million people, requiring the world's largest humanitarian operation. Endi