Iraqi troops battle Islamic State inside Mosul
Iraqi forces battled Islamic State fighters on the eastern edge of Mosul on November 1 as the two-week campaign to recapture the jihadists' last main bastion in Iraq entered a new phase of urban warfare.
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Artillery and air strikes pounded the city, still home to 1.5 million people, and residents of the eastern neighborhood of al-Quds said the ultra-hardline Sunni militants had resorted to street fighting to try to hold the army back.
Soldiers of the elite Counter Terrorism Service (CST) also entered the state television station in Mosul on November 1, the first capture of an important building in the Islamic State-held city since the start of the offensive about two weeks ago, the force commander, Lieutenant-General Talib Shaghati, said.
"This is a good sign for the people of Mosul because the battle to liberate Mosul has effectively begun," Shaghati said.
Iraqi troops, security forces, Shi'ite militias and Kurdish peshmerga have been advancing on several fronts toward Mosul, backed by US-led troops and air forces. Special forces units sweeping in from the east have made fastest progress.
"We are currently fighting battles on the eastern outskirts of Mosul," CTS Lieutenant-General Abdul Wahab al-Saidi said. "The pressure is on all sides of the city to facilitate entry to the city center."
