Iraqi special forces battling Islamic State reached the eastern bank of the Tigris river in Mosul yesterday for the first time in a three-month, US-backed offensive to capture the city from the militants, who still control its entire western half.
The group also claimed attacks at two Baghdad markets in which 20 people were killed, the latest in a spate of bombings, tactics to which Islamic State is resorting as it comes under pressure in Mosul, its last major stronghold in Iraq.
Units of Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) have fought their way to the eastern bank of the Tigris, spokesman Sabah al-Numan said.
It was the first time Iraqi troops in the city itself have reached the river, which bisects Mosul, since the offensive to drive out Islamic State was launched in October.
Iraqi forces already control the Tigris to Mosul’s south.
They are not expected to push across the river without first recapturing the rest of the eastern districts, and in fact all the bridges have been taken out of service by air strikes.
But reaching the eastern bank shows the accelerated pace of the latest Iraqi advance, which has made daily gains since restarting 10 days ago.
Brett McGurk, Washington’s envoy to the US-led coalition backing the Iraqi offensive, said in a tweet that Islamic State’s defences in eastern Mosul were “showing signs of collapse”.
Hundreds of civilians fled their homes in nearby Muthana, which Iraqi forces recaptured two days ago in an unprecedented nighttime raid, crossing a tributary of the Tigris via a makeshift bridge made from dirt.
In Baghdad, a suicide attacker killed 13 people when he drove an explosives-rigged car into vegetable market in the mainly Shia Muslim eastern Jamila district, and detonated it, police said.
Islamic State claimed the attack in an online statement, saying it had targeted a “gathering of Shias”.
A few hours afterwards, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up at a market in another mostly Shia district, Baladiyat, killing seven, according to police and medical sources.
Iraqis pull a cart with their belongings in a street in Mosul’s al-Zahraa neighbourhood yesterday, as they flee with other civilians during an ongoing military operation against Islamic State group militants.
