MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 15 -- The Iraqi security forces on Tuesday continued their advance in south and west of the city of Mosul, as fierce battles continued in the city to drive out the Islamic State (IS) militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq.
In west of Mosul, the Shiite Hashd Shaabi paramilitary units continued their advance in the vast rugged land in west of Mosul toward the town of Tal-Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, and managed to recaptured six villages after clashes with the IS militants, Lieutenant General Abdul-Amir Yarallah from the Joint Operations Command said in a statement.
The paramilitary units fought fierce clashes with the IS militants during the advance, killing dozens of them and destroying seven booby-trapped cars, along with seizing a large cache of weapons and mortar rounds, Yarallah said.
Tuesday's advance brought the paramilitary units to about 18 kilometers from the airport of the tow of Tal Afar, Yarallah said, asserting that the recapture of the airport will enable the troops to use it as a launching pad to free Tal Afar.
Tal Afar, which used to have majority of both Sunni and Shiite Turkoman villagers, as well as other minorities of Kurds and Arabs, fell to IS in 2017.
The advance of the pre-dominantly Shiite paramilitary units was aimed to cut off the supply lines between Mosul and neighboring Syria, but such advance in the ethnically mixed region where Sunni Muslims form a majority, could spark sectarian tension with Sunni Arabs and neighboring Sunni state of Turkey.
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