Iraqi special forces poised on edge of Mosul

Iraqi special forces stood poised to enter Mosul in an offensive to drive out ISIS militants after sweeping into the last village on the city's eastern edge Monday while fending off suicide car bombs without losing a soldier.

Armoured vehicles drew fire from mortars and small arms as they moved on the village of Bazwaya in an assault that began at dawn, while artillery and airstrikes hit ISIS positions.

By evening, the fighting had stopped and units took up positions less than 1 kilometres from Mosul's eastern border and about eight kilometresfrom the centre, two weeks into the offensive to retake Iraq's second-largest city.

"We will enter the city of Mosul soon and liberate it from Daesh," said Brig.-Gen. Haider Fadhil of Iraq's special forces, using an Arabic acronym for the extremists. He added that more than 20 militants had been killed while his forces suffered only one light injury from a fall.

They made the gain as the offensive to recapture Mosul the largest military operation in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 entered its third week.

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Three suicide car bombers had tried to stop the advance before the army took control of Bazwaya, but the troops destroyed them, he said. The army said another unit, its 9th Division, had moved toward Mosul and was about fivekilometres from its eastern outskirts, the neighbourhood of Gogjali.

At one point, a Humvee packed with explosives raced ahead and tried to ram the approaching forces, but Iraqi troops opened fire, blowing it up. Plumes of smoke rose from ISIS positions hit by artillery and airstrikes that the army said came from the U.S.-led coalition.

State TV described the operation as a "battle of honour" to liberate the city, which was captured by ISIS from a superior yet neglected Iraqi force in 2014.

Some residents hung white flags on buildings and windows in a sign they would not resist government troops, said Maj. Salam al-Obeidi, a member of the special forces operation in Bazwaya. He said troops asked villagers to stay in their homes as Iraqi forces moved through the streets a precaution against possible suicide bombers.

As night fell, broken glass in the streets glistened from the light of some burning houses, with several buildings suffering collapsed roofs from airstrikes. The army estimates hundreds of families are in the village, but few ventured out.

Since Oct. 17, Iraqi forces and their Kurdish allies, Sunni tribesmen and Shia militias have been converging on Mosul from all directions. Entering Gogjali could be the start of a new slog for the troops, as they'll be forced to engage in difficult, house-to-house fighting in more urban areas. The operation is expected to take weeks, if not months.

Iraqi forces have made uneven progress. Advances have been slower south of the city, with government troops still 35 kilometresaway.

The U.S. military estimates ISIS has 3,000 to 5,000 fighters in Mosul and another 1,500 to 2,500 in its outer defensive belt. The total includes about 1,000 foreign fighters.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi appeared on state TV in combat fatigues and urged ISIS fighters in Mosul to surrender.

"We will close in on Daesh from all angles and, God willing, we will cut the snake's head," he said while visiting troops in the town of Shura, south of Mosul.

"They will have no way out, and no way to escape," he said. "Either they die, or surrender."

On Sunday, thousands of fighters flocked to join Iraq's state-sanctioned, Iran-backed Shiamilitias who aim to cut off Mosul from the west. In a series of apparent retaliatory attacks, bombs exploded in five of Baghdad's mostly Shianeighbourhoods, killing at least 17 people.

The deadliest a parked car bomb hit a popular fruit and vegetable market near a school in the northwestern Hurriyah area, killing at least 10 people and wounding 34. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

Separate attacks Monday in and around Baghdad killed at least 16 people and wounded about 50, police said. The deadliest was in the northwestern Shalla neighbourhood when a car bomb ripped through a popular market area, killing at least eight civilians and wounding 23, police said.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information.

Up to a million people could be displaced

The momentum of the offensive has encouraged Iraqis to take a risk and leave their homes, despite warnings from the hardline Islamist militant group that anyone who attempts to flee their self-proclaimed caliphate will be shot dead.

ISIS Using Human Shields

8 years ago

Duration 2:27

The U.N. says ISIS has taken thousands of people hostage for use as human shields in Mosul

The United Nations has warned that ISIScould try to take thousands of people as hostages, using them as "human shields"during theMosuloffensive.

The city is still home to 1.5 million residents, making it four of five times bigger than any other city they controlled in both Iraq and Syria.

'Will not be a picnic'

"The battle of Mosul will not be a picnic," Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Badr Organization, the largest Shiamilitia fighting with Iraqi government forces, said from the southern frontline. "We are prepared for the battle of Mosul even if it lasts for months."

On Monday, he expressed hope that Mosul would not descend into a protracted and devastating conflict like the four-year-old battle in the Syrian city of Aleppo, where Shiamilitias are also fighting.

"We are afraid that Mosul would be another Aleppo, but we hope that will not happen," Amiri told reporters in Zarqa, south of Mosul.