MOSUL, Iraq— Intense house-to-house exchange of fire was reported Tuesday in Mosul’s old town which is still partly controlled by the ISIS militants.
Embedded Rudaw reporter Hevidar Ahmed said the army is now less than 600 meters from the Old Bridge and the Great Mosque located in the densely populated old town. Ahmed said the militants put up stiff resistance as the Iraqi troops tried to enter the district, attacking the army with car bombs and suicide bombers.
The army has been attacking the militants in the old town both from the air and on the ground shelling their positions with rockets and small range missiles, but the militants still seem to have remained in the area.
The elite Rapid Response troops, supported by the circling helicopters overhead, have entered the commercial district of Kornish in the old town but their advance was abruptly halted by ISIS sniper attacks, Ahmed added.
Kornish included some of Mosul’s tallest buildings, prior to ISIS takeover in 2014, which have largely been levelled to ground by months-long bombing raids.
General Mahdi Abas of the Rapid Response told Rudaw that the militants’ sporadic sniper and suicide attacks had halted the advancing army.
“They fight until they die and don’t seem to surrender despite the fact that they have no chance against an army,” Abbas said.
