Coalition raid kills Daesh militants in Iraq’s W. Mosul

By Serhad Shaker and Ahmad Kassem

NINEVEH, Iraq

At least seven Daesh terrorists in western Mosul have been killed in an airstrike by a U.S.-led coalition, an Iraqi army officer said Monday.

"Coalition warplanes struck a Daesh position in western Mosul’s Al-Zanjili district, killing seven militants and destroying one of their vehicles,” Army Lieutenant-Colonel Yazan al-Saadani told Anadolu Agency.

"No civilians were killed in the airstrike," he added.

Iraqi forces are now planning to link the two sides of Mosul by setting up a pontoon bridge on the Tigris River, which runs through the city, according to another army officer who spoke to Anadolu Agency.

"The bridge will be set up in areas currently held by the army on both sides of the river,” Army Lieutenant-Colonel Abdul Salam al-Jubouri said.

“It will facilitate the movement of army units and the evacuation of civilians fleeing combat zones in western Mosul," he added.

In February, Iraqi forces -- with air cover provided by a U.S.-led coalition -- began fresh operations aimed at purging Daesh from western Mosul, the terrorist group’s last stronghold in the region.

The offensive came as part of a wider campaign launched last October to retake the entire city, which Daesh overran -- along with other parts of the country -- in mid-2014.