A US general said on Thursday that between 800 and 900 ISIL Takfiri militants have been killed since the operation to recapture Iraqi city of Mosul from the terrorists began.

“Just in the operations over the last week and a half associated with Mosul, we estimate they’ve probably killed about 800-900 Islamic State fighters,” General Joseph Votel, who heads the US military’s Central Command, said in an interview with AFP, speaking from an undisclosed location.

Iraqi security forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters are pushing toward Mosul along several axes and have made relatively quick progress as they approach Mosul, Iraq’s second city.

The operation, which began 10 days ago, has so far been concentrated in towns and villages around Mosul, and resistance may get heavier as Iraqi forces break through ISIL defenses and enter the city itself.

Earlier US estimates had put the number of ISIL militants in Mosul itself at between 3,500 and 5,000. Up to another 2,000 were thought to be in the broader Mosul region.

Votel noted it was hard to provide precise numbers as ISIL militants move around the city and blend in with the local population.

ISIL has lost the ability to move in large convoys, making it more difficult to replace militants if it loses them in significant numbers.

Source: AFP