Iraqi forces take area of Mosul’s Old City: Army source

By Ibrahim Salih and Hussein al-Amir

BAGHDAD

Iraqi forces have retaken a strategic part of western Mosul’s Old City district from the Daesh terrorist group, according to a high-ranking Iraqi military source.

“Anti-terrorism units affiliated with the Defense Ministry have successfully liberated the Old City’s Al-Farouq neighborhood,” Abdulamir Yarallah, commander of the army’s ongoing campaign to recapture Mosul, said Monday.

As of midday, however, clashes between Iraqi forces and Daesh militants appeared to still be ongoing in the Old City district, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent in the area.

The Iraqi military remains engaged in a wide-ranging campaign -- launched last October -- to recapture the entire city of Mosul, which the terrorist group overran in mid-2014.

In a related development Sunday, Daesh militants attacked Peshmerga positions in northwestern Kirkuk, leading to two hours of clashes in Kirkuk’s Kiraw area, Iraqi Army Captain Kamran Mahmood told Anadolu Agency.

According to Mahmoud, the Daesh attacks were eventually repulsed with an unspecified number of Daesh militants killed and three Peshmerga fighters injured.