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Iraqi forces take Mosul bridge as thousands flee IS stronghold
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IRAQI forces seized a damaged Mosul bridge yesterday which could link up their units on either side of the Tigris river, as thousands of civilians fled the fighting for Islamic State’s remaining stronghold in the west of the city.
United States-backed army and police units advanced through populated western districts, fighting tough street battles, and announced they had captured Mosul’s southernmost bridge.
Once repaired, the bridge could help bring reinforcements and supplies from the eastern side, piling pressure on the militants dug in the western side among 750,000 civilians.
Iraqi forces captured eastern Mosul in January, after 100 days of fighting. They launched their attack on the districts that lie west of the Tigris a week ago.
If they defeat IS in Mosul, that would crush the Iraq wing of the caliphate that the group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared in 2014 over parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria. The US commander in Iraq believes US-backed forces will recapture both Mosul and Raqqa — IS’s Syria stronghold —within six months.
Since government forces broke through the city’s southern limits last Thursday, more than 10,000 civilians have fled IS-held areas, seeking medical assistance, food and water, Iraqi commanders said.
About 1,000 civilians arrived in the early hours of yesterday at the sector held by the Counter Terrorism Service, the wounded taken to the clinic of this elite unit, while men were screened to make sure they are not IS members.
Among the people treated at the CTS clinic was a little girl with a blood on her face and a woman with shrapnel in her hand, lying immobile, apparently unconscious.
An old man who came with them said about 20 people were sheltering in their house when it was hit by an airstrike two days ago in the southwestern Maamoun district.
Those who managed to escape have had to walk through the desert for at least an hour to reach government lines.
Several thousand militants, including many who traveled from Western countries to join up, are believed to be still in Mosul, prepared for a fierce standoff amid a remaining civilian population of 750,000.
The UN World Food Program said yesterday it was extremely concerned about the dire humanitarian situation facing families in western Mosul.
A reporter saw several trucks teeming with people, lifting columns of sand and dust as they drove away from the city. One had two women and infants riding in the cabin. The rest stood on the open bed, held on to the truck from outside, or sat on top of the cabin. “They booby trapped our homes and our cars,” said an old woman.
Army, police, CTS and Rapid Response units forces attacking IS in west Mosul are backed by air and ground support from US-led coalition, including artillery fire.
Iraqi troops have already captured the southern and western accesses to western Mosul, dislodging the militants from the airport, a military base, a power station and three residential district, al-Maamoun, al-Tayyaran and al-Josaq, the military said.
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