Iraqi forces have retaken around two thirds of the eastern half of Mosul from the ISIL terrorist group since the start of an offensive in mid-October, a top commander said Sunday.

“From east Mosul… more than 60 percent” has been retaken from ISIL, Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, a top commander in Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), told AFP.

He was speaking from his headquarters northeast of Mosul, where ISIL proclaimed a “caliphate” in June 2014 after occupying the city.

Iraq’s elite CTS forces are the best-equipped, best-trained and most seasoned forces in the country but the going has been tough since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the beginning of an operation to retake Mosul on October 17 last year.

CTS and other forces more recently deployed inside the city have been moving house-to-house, dodging sniper fire, suicide car bombs and booby traps to retake one neighborhood after another.

Source: AFP