Mosul: Mosul: Iraqi counter-terrorism forces on Saturday liberated the campus of the University of Mosul and drove out Daesh militants, according to military sources.
Major General Fadhil Al Barwari, commander of an Iraqi counter-terrorism unit, told Efe news that his forces had fully freed Iraq’s second largest university.
The troops stormed the campus on Friday from both the south and northeast fronts and managed to take control over several buildings.
General Ma’an Al Saadi, commander of a special counter-terrorism unit said on Friday that the troops managed to liberate the university’s institute of technology and faculty of technology, as well as several administrative buildings, on which they hoisted the Iraqi flag.
Iraqi forces have retaken the eastern edges of three of Mosul’s five bridges, according to a senior Iraqi officer overseeing the operation to retake Iraq’s second-largest city from Daesh.
The retaken bridges are in the city’s southeast and come as Iraqi forces also advance in the northeast, where they have begun battling Daesh militants on the grounds of Mosul university. Warplanes from the US-led coalition bombed the city’s bridges late last year in an effort to isolate Daesh militants in the city’s east by disrupting resupply routes.
Unlike in the surrounding neighbourhoods, Iraqi officers said they believe the university grounds are largely empty of civilians and so they’ve been able to use air cover more liberally.
Iraqi soldiers said their advance faced less resistance than they faced during the first weeks of the Mosul operation.
“We were targeted with only four car bombs where before (Daesh) would send 20 in one day,” special forces Lieutenant Zain Al Abadeen said. “And they aren’t armoured like before, they’re just using civilian cars.”
The massive operation to retake Mosul from Daesh was launched in October. Since then Iraqi forces have slowly clawed back about a third of the city.
Meanwhile, residents of the Iraqi city of Mosul said up to 30 civilians were killed in an air strike on a district held by Daesh this week.
The witnesses said it was not immediately clear if the attack was carried out by the US-led coalition fighting Daesh, or by Iraqi forces that have been making advances against the militants in the city.
They said they saw at least three missiles hit the western Mosul Al Jadida area on Thursday, in a raid that appeared to target the house of senior militant Harbi Abdul Qader.
He was not in the building at the time, but several members of his family died, one resident said late on Friday.
Iraq Body Count (IBC), a group run by academics and peace activists that has been counting violent deaths in the country since 2003, said 21 to 25 civilians were reported killed on Thursday in a strike on that area.
Reuters could not verify the accounts independently.
Areas of Mosul west of the River Tigris, which bisects the city from north to south, are still controlled by the terrorist group.
Almost all of the east has been recaptured by US-backed Iraqi forces who are fighting to drive the militants out of the city, Daesh last major stronghold in Iraq.
