IS fighters launch counterattacks in west Mosul neighbourhood
IRBIL, Iraq — Islamic State fighters launched a string of counterattacks in a western Mosul neighbourhood that had recently been declared free of the militant group, setting off clashes that continued overnight, Iraqi officials said Monday.
By daylight, the situation was calm and the fighting had subsided, according to army spokesman Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Khodari.
The attacks came as Iraqi forces continue to move in on the last pocket of territory the IS militants hold in the neighbourhood known as the Old City.
Al-Khodari told The Associated Press that IS sleeper cells set fire to houses and cars on Sunday afternoon in the Tanak neighbourhood on Mosul’s far western edge. The area was declared fully liberated in early May.