MOSUL, Iraq, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces on Saturday continued to push the remaining Islamic State (IS) militants into a small pocket in the Old City at the bank of Tigris River, as the troops recaptured new areas in the western side of Mosul, the Iraqi military said.
The federal police freed Bab al-Toub neighborhood and the adjacent commercial area of Souq al-Saghah after heavy clashes with the extremist militants in the old city, Abdul-Amir Yarallah from the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a brief statement.
The army's 9th Armored Division freed Daka-Baraka area and a mosque from IS militants in the northern part of the remaining IS-held pocket along the Tigris River, Yarallah said in a separate statement.
Earlier in the day, JOC Spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul told reporters that the Iraqi forces are in full control of the Old City, despite sporadic clashes in some pockets in parts of neighborhoods stretching on the bank of the Tigris River.
The fighting in the Old City is becoming heavier as Iraqi forces push the extremist IS militants into the strip of land along the bank of the Tigris River. The desperate militants have been increasingly resorting to suicide attacks and showing stiff resistance that slowed the troops' progress in recent days.
And there were a large number of roadside bombs and booby-trapped buildings, in addition to IS snipers taking positions in the buildings and narrow alleys of heavily-populated neighborhoods, where thousands of civilians still live under IS rule.
"Our forces are continuing their advance to free the last parts of the Old City," Rasoul said.
A source from the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) forces told Xinhua "there is only a few meters left for the troops to reach the western bank of the Tigris River and Daesh (IS group) has sustained heavy casualties during the day."
The security forces have evacuated hundreds of civilians, including women and children from the battlefield, the source said, asserting, "what is prolonging the clashes is the troops' efforts to save the innocent civilians."
Two days ago, UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq Lise Grande told reporters that up to 20,000 are still trapped in the IS-held pocket in Mosul's Old City.
"Our estimate at this stage is that in the final pockets of the Old City, there could be as many as 15,000 civilians, possibly even as high as 20,000," Grande said.
"The people that are still trapped inside these pockets are in terrible condition," facing shortage of food, she said.
Mosul, 400 km north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, came under IS control since June 2014, when government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
