MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Iraqi armed forces freed 74 villages and killed 772 Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) militants in the first week of the campaign to retake Mosul, the army command said Monday.
The Iraqi government launched an offensive on October 17 to reclaim the Daesh stronghold with air support from the US-led coalition. The operation involves Kurdish forces and Sunni tribal fighters.
Twenty-three Daesh militants have been captured, the operations center said as cited by Shafaq News. Iraqi security forces seized two bomb-making factories, detonated 397 improvised explosive devices and destroyed 127 booby-trapped vehicles.
The US special presidential envoy for the anti-Daesh coalition, Brett McGurk, said Monday that all objectives have been met so far. He added the US-led coalition launched more airstrikes on the Daesh terror group in the past week than during any other seven-day period of the war.
