Members of the Popular Mobilisation Units supporting the government forces stand on the outskirts of the holy Iraqi city of Najaf on September 24, 2016. (AFP/Xinhua)
MOSUL, Iraq, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- More than 100 U.S. troops arrived on Monday at a military airbase near the town of Qayyara to provide support to Iraqi security forces in the imminent battle to flush out the Islamic State (IS) militants from their last major stronghold in Mosul.
The arrival of the troops came as the Iraqi forces repelled an attack of dozens of IS militants near Qayyara, some 55 km south of Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh.
"Large force of U.S. troops arrived at dawn at Qayyara airbase via the international airport in Arbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan," Mohammed Ibrhim al-Baiyati, head of security committee of Nineveh provincial council, told Xinhua.
"The American force consisted of more than 100 troops with heavy military equipment and various weapons," Baiyati said, adding that the latest troops' arrival brings the number of U.S. advisers and trainers in Qayyara airbase to 550.
The U.S. troops in Qayyara airbase will provide support for the Iraqi forces in the imminent battle to liberate Mosul, according to Baiyati.
On Sept. 28, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement that the Iraqi government had asked for more U.S. troops as trainers and advisers to help liberate Mosul from the terrorist IS militants.
"U.S. President Barack Obama was consulted on a request by the Iraqi government for a final increase in the number of U.S. trainers and advisers under the umbrella of the international coalition in Iraq to provide support for the Iraqi security forces," Abadi said.
However, Abadi stressed that the role of the trainers and advisers is not combating, and that those who will liberate the land are only Iraqi forces, the statement said, adding that "the number of trainers and advisers will be reduced immediately after the liberation of Mosul."
Over 4,500 U.S. troops are currently in Iraq, a number expected to increase before the battles in Mosul, located some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, dozens of IS militants backed by four suicide car bombs attacked the positions of the security forces and allied tribal Sunni paramilitary units, but were repelled by the troops after destroying their four suicide car bombs, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The militants fled the scene and left at least 23 bodies of their militants and many of their weapons at the battlefield, the source said without giving further details about the casualties among the security forces.
Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
