Iraqi forces gain more areas after heavy clashes

 Iraqi security forces took control of four more districts in the city of Mosul on Saturday, as part of their slow and fierce fighting to drive out Islamic State (IS) militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq, the Iraqi army said.

The commandos of the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) freed four districts of al-Qadsiyah al-Uola, al-Murour, al-Shekhakyah and al-Mishraq and raised the Iraqi flag on its buildings, a statement by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said.

The elite CTS started their push into the four districts early on Friday, bringing the total number of districts liberated from IS militants in eastern Mosul to 31, the JOC statement said.

The troops are facing grueling fighting inside Mosul from the extremist militants, who are carrying out brutal counter attacks in small groups moving quickly throughout the districts, and using suicide car bombs, as well as mortars and snipers, in addition to using the population of the city as human shields.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a recent report that the military operations in Mosul have pushed some 82,000 civilians to flee their homes in the city and its adjacent districts and the number went up every day.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Oct. 17 announced a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city.

Since then, the Iraqi security forces have inched to the eastern fringes of Mosul and made progress on other routes around the city.

Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under the IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.

source: Xinhua