Middle East

Mosul offensive: Iraqi forces capture second bridge over Tigris

Capture and repair of Mosul bridges over Tigris will help offensive against Isis

Iraqi security forces launch a rocket against Islamic State militants positions during clashes in the western side of Mosul, Iraq, on Sunday. Photograph: AP

Mon Mar 6 2017 - 06:55

US-backed Iraqi forces on Monday captured Mosul’s al-Hurriya bridge, which leads to the Islamic State-held old city centre from the south, a military media officer said.

The al-Hurriya bridge is the second to be secured by the Iraqi forces in the city, after securing one located further south, in the offensive that started on the western part of Mosul on February 19th.

“We control the western end of the bridge,” said a senior media officer with Rapid Response, the elite unit of the interior ministry leading the charge through the districts alongside the Tigris river.

Iraqi forces gather as they prepare for clashes with Islamic State in Mosul. Photograph: Getty

Fire and smoke billow following a car bomb explosion as Iraqi forces clash with Islamic State in Mosul. Photograph: Getty

Mosul

The Fourth bridge

Captured by Iraqi forces

February 27th

al-Hurriya bridge

Captured by Iraqi forces

March 6th

1km

1km

maps4news.com/©HERE

Mosul

The Fourth bridge

Captured by Iraqi forces

February 27th

al-Hurriya bridge

Captured by Iraqi forces

March 6th

1km

1km

maps4news.com/©HERE

All of Mosul’s five bridges over the Tigris have been destroyed but their capture and repair would help the offensive against the militants, who have controlled the northern Iraqi city since 2014.

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Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city, was captured by the Islamic State terror group, also known as Isis, in June 2014. An operation to retake it, led by the Iraqi government with the support of allies including the US, has been under way since October 17th last.

Iraqi forces captured the eastern side of Mosul in January and launched their attack on the districts that lie west of the Tigris on February 19th.

Defeating Islamic State in Mosul would crush the Iraqi wing of the caliphate declared by the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in 2014, over parts of Iraq and Syria.

Baghdadi proclaimed the caliphate from Mosul’s grand Nuri mosque in the old city centre which is still under his followers’ control.

The Iraqi forces are advancing toward the old city centre form the south and the southwest.

Reuters

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