Iraqi Helicopters Strike ISIL Bases in Western Mosul, Kill 17 Militants

Al-Nahrain news website quoted the Iraqi sources as saying that the helicopters have pounded the ISIL moves and positions in Tal al-Fares and al-Ba’aj.

“17 ISIL members were killed and 3 of their vehicles were destroyed in the attacks,” the sources added.

Meantime, sources close to Hashd al-Shaabi (Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces) said that the PMF forces have killed 13 suicide bombers in al-Mahlabiyeh, Tal Zalt and Adayeh in Western Mosul.

The head of Iraq’s Federal Police said Wednesday that ISIL terror group lost 80% of their suicide bombers and commandos in battles against Iraqi government forces in Western Mosul.

Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat said his forces also took over tens of booby-trapped vehicles in Zanjili district, one of the three remaining neighborhoods leading to the Old City where Iraqi forces have been battling ISIL over the past few weeks.

Jawdat had said on Tuesday that his forces had taken over a training facility for ISIL suicide bombers in Zanjili.

Iraqi government troops regained control over Eastern Mosul in January after three months of fighting. Operations for the western side of the city launched in mid February, and Iraqi generals say a few hundreds of ISIL militants remain in the Old City as a last refuge.

The densely populated and narrowly structured Old City was the place where ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of the group’s rule in Iraq in 2014.

Iraqi forces began late April to advance towards the enclave from the Northwest, having besieged it from the South for weeks to no avail.