IRBIL, April 20 (KUNA) -- Iraqi government forces, engaged in a wide-scale military operation to drive gunmen of the so-called Islamic State out of the northern city of Mosul, have killed at least six field chiefs of the group.
Among those killed in the battle for control of Mosul is a relative of the IS top chief, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdad, said Major General Raed Shawkat, the Iraqi Federal Police chief, in a statement.
Elaborating, he said the regulars killed the top man in charge of chemical warfare, know by his nome de guerre "Abu Ahmad ghas (gas)." He finished off in a rocket attack on a hideout in the district of Al-Zanjili.
The IS has also lost other field leaders, namely Abu Baraa Al-Dagestani, a military chief, his aide Abu Abdul-Rahman Al-Zamari, in action at the fifth bridge, adjacent to the city old sector.
The group commanders have been targeted with highly guided and accurate weapons, with coordinates set depending on reports provided by informants.
Earlier today, the government forces burst into Al-Thawra district and started an offensive on Al-Suha neighborhood.
They liberated Mosul's eastern side in January and started a wide-scale offensive, the next month, to capture the western side of the city.
The IS had been driven out of wide swaths of lands in central and western Iraq in a major battle waged by the government to rid the nation of the notorious organization, whose chief had declared a self-styled "Islamic caliphate." The IS, known in Arabic as "Daesh," is notorious for brutal killing means, horrific torturing and burning hostages to death. (end) abr.rk