MOSUL, Iraq— The Mosul operation codenamed “We Are Coming, Nineveh” has led to the killing of around 1000 Islamic State gunmen since it started in October last year, according to the commander of the operation, Lt. Gen. Abdulamir Yaralla. Yaralla told Rudaw that the month-long clashes in western Mosul which started in mid-February had been “intense due to ISIS preparations ahead of the operation, digging tunnels and placing road bombs across the neighborhoods.” Yaralla said Wednesday that many of the militants had been killed particularly since the operation advanced towards the western half of the city where ISIS is still believed to hold key grounds near the old town. The Chief of the Federal Iraqi Police, Shakir Jawdat told Rudaw Wednesday that around 25,000 people hade been evacuated in western districts as the army moved into more densely populated areas with narrower roads and old infrastructures. “Some 330 square kilometers have been retaken since the start of the west mosul operation which has so far involved 62 operations,” Jawdat said. It has been difficult to estimate how many diehard ISIS militants, including foreign fighters, still remain in Mosul after continuos defeats and heavy losses of territory in the battlegrounds since the operation started. The Kurdish and Iraqi intelligence estimates however have put the total number of the militants in the city roughly at 8000. Intelligence sources inside Mosul have revealed that many local ISIS recruits abandoned the group as the army started to close in, but many other gunmen from other regions have remained despite the overwhelming military odds against them with airpower raiding their holdouts and the elite Rapid Response troops gaining daily grounds in the city. It has also been difficult to verify Iraqi troop casualties in Mosul operation which by some estimates could have passed several thousands, although the Iraqi Joints Operation Command (JOC) has categorically rejected the estimates. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI), last year in November alone, 1,959 Iraqi troops had been killed in the battle for Mosul, many of them in road side bombings. UNAMI has since backtracked its casualty figures after Iraqi army protests.
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