Iraq’s federal police forces and army troops attacked the ISIS-held town of Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, on Saturday, as Iraqi-led coalition forces seek to drive back ISIS militants from their last major Iraqi stronghold.
The Iraqi Air Force provided air cover for the assault Saturday morning, according to a statement from Iraq’s Joint Military Command.
Iraqi troops are advancing from three fronts toward the Hammam-al-Alil, which is about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) south of Mosul, and have reached the College of Agriculture at its edge, the statement said.
On Friday, the UN refugee agency said it had received reports ISIS has been instructing residents of Hammam al-Alil to hand over boys age nine and older since October 17, when the Iraqi-led offensive to recapture the country’s second city began.
The boys are apparently being conscripted to fight on behalf of the terror group, Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UNHCR, told a press briefing in Geneva, Switzerland.
The long-awaited assault on Hammam al-Alil, the last significant town before Mosul on the River Tigris, will add to the pressure on ISIS fighters.
Clashes in eastern Mosul
Iraqi military units were trying to reinforce their presence in eastern Mosul on Saturday, after their progress was stalled Friday by fierce resistance.
Witnesses reported renewed clashes in several districts Saturday morning as convoys of Iraqi military vehicles moved into several areas.
They said Iraqi troops had taken control of the neighborhoods of At Tahrir in the north-east, and Kirkukli and Zuhra in the east. Other residents contacted by CNN said that ISIS remained in control of the districts of Qudes and Karama, further south.
ISIS claimed to have carried out a suicide car bombing in the eastern neighborhood of Aden early Saturday and said it had killed 15 counter terrorism troops and destroyed six military vehicles.
CNN could not confirm the claim. But witnesses report many civilians leaving the area, heading east away from the city.
An Iraqi security official in Gogjali, on the eastern fringe of Mosul, said two suicide bombers on motorcycles drove toward Iraqi troops on Saturday. One was shot and killed; the other escaped.
Hawija civilians killed
Meanwhile, three roadside bombs in two separate locations killed 11 civilians and injured 18 more as they fled the town of Hawija on foot on Saturday, security officials in the city of Kirkuk told CNN.
Most of the casualties were women and children.
Hawija is an ISIS-held town about 55 kilometers (34 miles) southwest of Kirkuk in the north of Iraq.
Turkey hits ISIS in northern Syria
Across the border in northern Syria, ISIS has come under attack from Turkish forces.
The Turkish military hit 71 ISIS targets in northern Syria in the past 24 hours, Turkey’s army said in a statement Saturday.
Five ISIS militants were killed and one Turkish officer was killed in clashes, the army said. In addition, five members of the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army were killed and at least 22 others injured.
The statement added that the coalition air force had conducted five airstrikes in northern Syria over the past 24 hours, which killed eight ISIS militants.