LOC18:17
15:17 GMT
BAGHDAD, June 10 (KUNA) -- Iraqi Government forces have driven militants of the so-called Islamic State out of Al-Zanjili district in the embattled city of Mosul, the Federal Police announced on Saturday.
Lieut. Gen. Raed Jawdat, the police forces chief, said in a statement that the troops took over the whole district following ferocious fighting with the militants, who suffered some 70 deaths.
The regulars found a large makeshift military plant for making rocket launchers, explosives and rockets.
Lieut. Gen. Jawdat indicated that the warriors were forced to retreat backward to some pockets in the ancient sector of the city.
The government forces have been fighting the militants for months to liberate Mosul.
Elsewhere, the Iraqi military said in a statement that an IS attack on Al-Atheem dam in Diyala northeast of Baghdad was thwarted.
Three "Daesh" members attempted to sneak aboard a boat to an observation post. The troops manning the post confronted the attackers and killed them all.
The operation to free all lands under the IS control in Iraq was launched on October 17. The battle for the western part of Mosul began on February 19. The city left sector was liberated in January.
The IS, a hardline movement led by a shadowy man named Abu Musaab Al-Zarkawi, had occupied large swaths of lands in Iraq and Syria at peak of the infighting in Syria. The group chief had declared an "Islamic caliphate" on these lands.
The group has been suffering significant losses in fighting in Iraq and Syria. Washington along with its regional and international allies has vowed to crush it. (end)
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