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Iraqi Kurdish forces were involved in the initial days of the operation but stopped short of the city, while pro-government paramilitary forces were tasked with moving on the IS-held town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul.
A gas attack blamed on Islamic State militants has struck Iraqi soldiers in a newly-liberated area of Mosul.
Iraqi forces launched the Mosul operation in October, moving toward the city from the south, west and north before assaulting its eastern side, which was recaptured earlier this year.
As many as 500,000 civilians could remain in parts of western Mosul under Daesh jihadist group control, OCHA estimates.
He added that government troops were extensively making use of remotely-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles to locate the extremists, who were hiding among civilians, and direct airstrikes on the targets.
Russia, Qatar call for Syrian ceasefire reinforcement, chemical attack probe
The US hit the Syrian airbase from which it said the assault was launched with cruise missiles, days after the attack. Now, Johnson has said: "Assad uses chemical weapons because they are not only terrible and indiscriminate".
"Mosul has pushed us to our operational limits as 1.9 million people have received life-saving assistance since the fighting began", Grande said.
Sabah al-Noaman, spokesperson of the army's elite Counter-Terrorism Service, said the announced "preliminary" toll was the result of fierce encounters between the group and Iraqi forces over the past four days at the Tenek and Abar districts, both recaptured recently by the government troops, Iraqi News reported. He said the area will be cleared from militants soon.
Six Iraqi soldiers were treated at a field clinic Sunday after being exposed to some sort of gas believed to be released by militants loyal to ISIS, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, the Iraqi spokesperson for the USA -led coalition against ISIS, told the Associated Press.
A press statement by Iraqi Federal Police Forces - Chief Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat - said that the police force took down one of the organisation's leaders Mahmaoud Ali Mahmoud, during one of the engagements against IS elements in Mosul, according to a Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) report. It also said the militants were increasingly using suicide motorbikes attacks.
Like others, he had to pay 1,000 Iraqi dinars ($1) for the brief trip.
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