Scores of civilians were killed this week in suspected US -led coalition airstrikes in western Mosul, now the subject of a major offensive to oust Daesh militants from the area, according to a local Iraqi NGO.
The ISIS militants have also used chemical weapons several times against the Iraqi civilians in the city of Mosul, since the army troops started the special operation to recapture terrorist group's de facto capital.
Issam al-Jibouri, a displaced resident who went by boat to western Mosul to take supplies to needy relatives, said: "We urge more efforts to reconstruct the bridges or bring larger boats".
An Iraqi military officer said that Islamic State militants have launched a gas attack in a newly-liberated area in western Mosul.
However, the western part of Mosul, with its narrow streets and heavily populated neighborhoods, appears to be a bigger challenge to the Iraqi forces.
Some 400,000 people are trapped in the area controlled by extremists, as Iraqi forces make slow progress in liberating the rest of the city from the jihadists.
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The Mosul Club was one of the best-known soccer clubs in the country and was preparing to return to the Iraqi Premier League in 2014, when the Islamic State seized the northern city, preventing the players from going to qualifying matches outside.
After retaking east Mosul, Iraqi forces set their sights on the far side of the Tigris River, which divides the city.
"Just because we're done in Mosul doesn't mean that Daesh is done in Iraq", Uribe said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. He said the area will be cleared from militants soon.
The spokesman for the Joint Operation Command in Iraq, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, told the Associated Press that six soldiers suffered "breathing problems" from the attack.
The jihadists have "reconstituted attack capabilities in Diyala and central Salaheddin", he said, referring to provinces where Iraqi forces had largely reasserted control after heavy fighting earlier in the war against IS.
"The battle to recapture the right bank of Mosul is approaches the end, Hammah said, without specifying a date".
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