Iraqi police liberate 1,400 square kilometers in Nineveh province
The Iraqi Federal Police on Sunday said their forces had freed almost 1,400 square kilometers in the province of Nineveh from the Islamic State (IS).
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Iraqi Federal Police on Sunday said their forces had freed almost 1,400 square kilometers in the province of Nineveh from the Islamic State (IS).
In a press statement, Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat, the Commander of the Iraqi Federal Police, said since the beginning of the Mosul offensive, his forces had freed 61 villages and a total of 1,400 square kilometers in Nineveh from IS.
Jawdat mentioned the forces have killed 747 IS extremists and detained 88 members since the start of the Mosul operation on Oct.17.
He also revealed that federal police forces had destroyed 164 car bombs, 42 military vehicles, 61 explosive belts, and 47 motorbike bombs.
IS took control of Mosul in June 2014. The insurgent group then expanded to other areas in northern Iraq and the west of the country, including Nineveh, Diyala, Salahaddin, and Anbar provinces.
Since then, the group has shrunk and continues to lose the territory it once controlled.
Recently, Iraqi and Kurdish forces launched the offensive on Mosul with the aerial support of the international coalition warplanes.
The forces have wrestled IS from three fronts so far, including the north, east, and south of Mosul.
Moreover, authorities repeatedly stated that IS booby-traps and suicide car bombs are the main obstacles slowing their advance toward Mosul forcing them to progress more carefully.
The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani recently told a German newspaper that Mosul would be liberated within three months if the Iraqi and Peshmerga forces continue to advance.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany