600 areas liberated since start of Mosul operation: Operation Command

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Iraqi forces had retaken 600 neighborhoods, villages, and towns from the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Nineveh Province since Oct. 17, according to Mosul operation statistics published on Tuesday.

The statement from the Mosul Operation Command revealed the statistics included all areas in Nineveh retaken up until Monday.

Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces launched the offensive on Oct. 17, 2016.

The security forces’ advance continued from the center of the city as the troops liberated most of the areas in the east and north of Mosul.

On Tuesday, the Operation Command announced the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism (CT) forces had advanced and retaken east Nineveh, al-Muhandiseen neighborhoods, the Bab Shams area, and al-Aghnam market, claiming the troops had raised Iraqi flags on the buildings.

The Operation Command also reported the forces cleared al-Kindy, Qairawan and al-Jamasa, Second Kafaat, and Andalus neighborhoods on Sunday and Monday.

The extremist group occupied Mosul in June 2014 and shortly expanded to other parts of Iraq including Nineveh, Diyala, Salahaddin, Anbar, and Kirkuk Province.

Since then, the group lost control over large swaths of territory in the country and continued to shrink in its self-proclaimed capital of Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq.

The occupation of territory in Iraq by IS led to hundreds of thousands of people being internally displaced, with the number increasing as the Mosul operation continues.

The Kurdistan Region is home to over 1.8 million refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who fled the threat of IS in Syria and different parts of Iraq.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany