Iraqi Troops Retake 2 Villages around Mosul, Free over 2,000 Families
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iraqi fighters from Popular Mobilization Units liberated two more villages near the northern city of Mosul as they are helping government forces in their drive to push Takfiri Daesh terrorist out of their last stronghold in the Arab country.
The pro-government forces, better known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi, managed to take complete control of Eastern al-Buthah and al-Salehiyah village southwest of Mosul, located 400 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad, early on Wednesday, Press TV reported.
Some 2,300 families, whom Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorists were using as human shields, were also freed during the offensives.
Iraqi volunteer forces are now clearing al-Salehiyah from remaining pockets of Daesh militants as well as booby traps and abandoned explosive ordnance.
Additionally, Commander of Federal Police Forces Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat announced that Iraqi snipers had shot and killed nine Daesh members during an operation on the outskirts of Um al-Masaed village.
An arms depot, six explosives-laden belts and several rockets were discovered during a separate operation west of Hamam al-Alil town, which lies about 30 kilometers south of Mosul.
Elsewhere in northern Mosul, Kurdish Peshmerga forces rounded up three Daesh militants, who were hiding inside a house.
On Tuesday, soldiers from the 9th Armored Division of the Iraqi Army freed al-Nisabah and Jadida al-Mufti districts from Daesh clutches, as they made headway in the eastern quarter of Mosul.
Iraqi troops are now a few kilometers away from the bridge, which links the eastern side of Mosul to the western flank.
Meanwhile, the media director for the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights said Daesh militants had executed 12 civilians in the eastern part of Mosul.
Jawad al-Shamari said the victims were killed after they opposed to the installation of rocket launchers on their home rooftops, which were to be aimed at security forces.
After months of preparation, Iraqi army soldiers, backed by volunteer fighters and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, launched an operation on October 17 to retake Mosul from Daesh terrorists.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has vowed that Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and Daesh’s last urban stronghold in the country, will be fully recaptured by the year-end.
