Iraqi forces push terrorists out of villages near Mosul

Iraqi troops have liberated two villages in southern Mosul from the grip of ISIL terrorists as part of the push by government forces for recapturing the strategic northern city.

Nofel Hamadi al-Sultan, the governor of Nineveh Province, where Mosul is located, said security forces managed to wrest control of the villages in the region of Qayyarah on Tuesday, Arabic-language al-Forat news agency reported.

Iraqi soldiers also retook a residential complex in the same area, the report added.

The neighboring district of al-Shirqat, situated in Salahuddin Province, was also encircled by the Iraqi forces during Tuesday’s operation.

The road, which links Qayyarah to Shirqat, was one of the major ISIL supply lines.

On Saturday, Iraqi forces retook the Qayyarah air base from ISIL.

In another development on Tuesday, Iraqi armed forces discovered a jail underground in Qayyarah and released hundreds of innocent prisoners who were held by Daesh terrorists.

The Iraqi army also found a six-kilometer tunnel in northern Ramadi with a large quantity of clothes and gold inside the passage. Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, was liberated last December almost one year after it fell to the hands of the extremists.

SS