Security forces free large area in Iraq’s Mosul

Iraqi security forces have declared the liberation of the Left Coast area in the east of the city of Mosul, in a major advancement in the larger-scale operations to free the entire city from Daesh terrorists.

The Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) announced the development on Wednesday. Security forces had already advanced way into the Left Coast — which is located on the east bank of the Tigris River — on Tuesday and a full liberation was expected.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi military announced that the government troops have managed to take “full control” eastern part of the city.

A senior Iraqi military commander hailed the achievement as “unprecedented.”

In another development, an airstrike by the US-led coalition purportedly fighting Daesh terrorists in Iraq targeted a funeral ceremony in Mosul, killing eight civilians.

Colonel Ahmed al-Jaboury, with the Nineveh Liberation Operation, said in a statement that the victims were killed as the US-led coalition "mistakenly" hit the mourning ceremony in Shefaa neighborhood in western Mosul on Tuesday.

Separately, the commander of the Nineveh Liberation Operation, Abdul Amir Yarallah, said a group of Daesh terrorists were killed in an Iraqi airstrike on Tuesday.

The air raid targeted the terrorists in Rashidiya area as they were fleeing from eastern Mosul to its west.

Mosul is the last urban area in Iraq that is still controlled by Daesh. Large-scale operations are underway by the Iraqi military from several fronts to liberate the city.

Additionally, Saad Maan, the spokesman for the Baghdad Operations Command, said two bomb disposal engineers lost their lives as a car bomb they were trying to defuse accidentally detonated on Tuesday.

According to al-Sumaria news website, the car bomb went off in Abu Dashir area in southern Baghdad. According to the report, seven other people, including two police officers, were also injured.

Earlier on Tuesday, a car bomb attack in the same area claimed the lives of seven people and injured 20 others.

The Daesh militants have recently increased their acts of violence across the Arab country in revenge for the blows they have been suffering at the hands of Iraqi forces, particularly in the northern city of Mosul.

Daesh began its campaign of terror in northern and western Iraq in 2014. Iraqi army soldiers and allied fighters are leading military operations to win back militant-held regions.

In yet another development, a security source said nine police forces were killed in a Daesh attack on security checkpoints in eastern Salahuddin Province on Wednesday.

According to al-Sumaria, the attack reportedly targeted the security forces on the outskirts of Hamrin area near the Farhan Village in eastern Salahuddin.

Meanwhile, some reports said five police forces have been kidnapped by Daesh in the same province.

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