Iraqi forces resume advance in Mousl districts and took 20 bodies

Medical sources revealed that the hospitals of the Iraqi city of Mousl received on Monday over 20 bodies for civilian people from the streets of Zinjili district, as the Iraqi joint forces turned to Shefaa district liberate it from the grip of extremists during the coming period. Meanwhile, a suicide attack targeted Iraqi forces in the Iraqi province of Diyala, as the security forces managed to control the situation.

Diyala Police Command announced, on Monday, foiling a suicide attack on a checkpoint in Balad Ruz District, east of Baqubah, while pointed out that two security members were injured during the attack. Diyala police spokesman, Colonel Ghalib Attiyah, said in a statement that a suicide bomber, wearing an explosive belt, tried to approach the eastern checkpoint of Balad Ruz District, but the checkpoint security members stopped him before blowing up himself at the checkpoint.

Two security members were slightly wounded due to the explosion, Attiyah added. Security forces were aware that there will be an attack attempt on the checkpoint, and took all the needed procedures. Earlier today, six unidentified bodies were found in al-Aitha area, northeast of Baqubah, while security members arrested five persons wanted on terrorism and criminal charges in different areas of the province.

In the same context, Iraqi special forces killed early Monday 21 Islamic State members in a snap operation at a western Mosul district where troops struggle to invade on their way to the strategic Old City. On his hand, Cap. Abdul-Wadoud al-Anbari said the Interior Ministry’s Rapid Response teams and the army’s 9th division killed 21 militants, including five snipers, in al-Shefa district, one of the last three districts surrounding the IS-held Old City area.

Since late April, Iraqi forces began a push towards the medieval Old City from the northwest, retaking several surrounding districts. At present, only three neighborhoods around the Old City remain under IS control: Zanjili, al-Sihha and al-Shefa. The Old City was the place where Islamic State’s supreme leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the establishment of the group’s rule in Iraq and Syria.

The area’s impassable alleyways have made it hard for army and police vehicles to go through, and the existence of at least 200.000 civilians under IS captivity has also slowed down the pace of operations, according to Iraqi generals. Iraqi government troops, regained control over eastern Mosul in January after three months of fighting. Some commanders hope the city will be recaptured on June 10th, the day it fell to IS fighters in 2014. They had previously predicted the city to be liberated before the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which began May 27th.

One special police force officer and four civilians were killed on Monday during battles against Islamic State militants in western Mosul, security and local sources said. Shafaaq News website quoted a security source that a lieutenant colonel at the Interior Ministry’s Rapid Response forces was killed during battles in Zanjili, one of the last three remaining districts around the Old City, the medieval district which stands as Islamic State’s last bastion in western Mosul.

Local residents also told the website that four members of one family were killed in an airstrike by warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition in Mashahda neighborhood. Three houses were destroyed in the strike, according to the sources. Late Sunday, Ali al-Karbalai, a lieutenant from the Rapid Response forces, told Anadolu Agency that 32 Iraqi soldiers were killed in 24 hours in suicide attacks by Islamic State militants in al-Shefa and Zanjili districts.

On the political side,  Kuwait’s Emir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah received at Bayan Palace yesterday leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq Ammar Al-Hakim and the accompanying delegation. The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of the Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah.

Hakim stressed, during the meeting, on the need to strengthen relations between Iraq and Kuwait during the coming period, calling the Iraqi government for supporting Kuwaiti investors to increase their investments in the country during the coming period. He also congratulated the Kuwaiti emir for wining a seat in the UN Security Council, calling for supporting political and security cooperation between the two countries during the coming period.