Iraqi army forces retake several areas in, around Mosul

Iraqi government forces, backed by allied fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units, have liberated more areas in and around Mosul as they are engaged in massive operations to drive the Daesh Takfiri terrorists out of the strategic northern city.

The commander of Nineveh Liberation Operation, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah, said on Thursday that soldiers from the 9th Armored Division had wrested control over Sabouniya village and its train station west of Badush region, Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network reported.

Yarallah stated that Iraqi troopers had flown the national flag over a number of buildings in the area, after inflicting heavy losses on Daesh ranks and destroying their military hardware.

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command (JOC) also announced in a statement that federal police forces and members of the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) had recaptured Qazibban neighborhood in western Mosul.

Daesh rocket attack kills 7 in eastern Mosul market

At least seven civilians lost their lives on Thursday when Daesh terrorists launched a rocket attack in Mosul.

Colonel Khaled al-Jawari of Nineveh Police Command said the extremists had launched three Katyusha rockets at an outdoor market in the densely-populated al-Zohour neighborhood of eastern Mosul, leaving five women and two children dead, Arabic-language Roayah news network reported.

Jawari added a woman had also sustained injuries in the attack, noting that Iraqi forces had transported the bodies and the wounded to medical centers in the area.

Separately, an athletic trainer and his wife were killed when a Katyusha rocket landed on their home in Deka Barka neighborhood of central Mosul.

Daesh execute 23 civilians in Mosul

Meanwhile, Daesh extremists executed nearly two dozen people in central Mosul on Thursday for refusing to evacuate, and arrested a senior fellow commander on charges of treason.

Witnesses, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a Daesh firing squad shot dead the civilians in the Zanjili district, after the victims resisted pressure to abandon their homes and move to other districts, Roayah news network reported.

The slain civilians were from Ras al-Jada and Malaab areas in western Mosul, according to witnesses.

Moreover, Daesh terrorists arrested an elite commander of the Farouq Brigades together with 20 fellow extremists in the city of Tal Afar, located 63 kilometers west of Mosul.

A local source, requesting anonymity, said those arrested had been accused of “breaching the pledge of allegiance” to Daesh leader Ibrahim al-Samarrai aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Iraqi army soldiers and pro-movement fighters launched their offensive to retake Mosul last October and since then they have made sweeping gains against the Takfiri elements.

Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January after 100 days of fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19.

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