About the USA -led coalition's coordination with Iraqi forces in Mosul operations, al-Alusi said: "Poor weather conditions in the region have reduced airstrikes of the global coalition's warplanes on Daesh-linked sites in western Mosul".
Some 400,000 people are trapped in the Old City while more than 300,000 have fled fighting since the operation started in October, officials have said.
Iraqi players, sporting the jersey of German clubs Bayern Munich (R) and Borussia Dortmund (L), prepare for kick-off during their football match in eastern Mosul's al-Salam neighbourhood on April 7, 2017.
Iraqi Federal Police forces "are engaged in hard, house-to-house clashes with Daesh fighters inside the Old City", a media officer from these units told Reuters.
Iraqi police say Islamic State militants also are using suicide bombers on motorcycles to navigate the Old City's narrow streets.
"Two members of the anti-terrorism forces were killed in the clashes", he said.
"Mosul has pushed us to our operational limits", said Grande.
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Terrorists have resorted to harsher tactics as Iraqi troops backed by US -led airstrikes take districts from the militants' control.
"There's still another significant number of areas within Iraq that will. need to be cleared of Daesh, and. the Iraqi security forces are getting themselves ready for that eventuality - they know that it's coming", he said.
Seven soldiers suffered breathing problems and were treated in a nearby field clinic following the night attack in al Abar.
The coalition has come under criticism following the deaths last month in west Mosul of scores of civilians in an airstrike it admitted may have been its own.
Losing these areas would still not eliminate the threat of bombings and hit-and-run attacks by the jihadists. Iraqi Christians around Mosul celebrated Palm Sunday for the first time in three years, including at a church burned by ISIS in Qaraqosh.
The attack caused only minor wounds, the force said in a statement, without giving more details.
Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq, was captured by the ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim fighters in mid 2014.
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