"A sum of 955 ISIL terrorists have been killed and 108 others arrested since the beginning of Mosul liberation operation," the Arabic-language al-Sumeriya news channel quoted Ma'an as saying on Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, a member of Nineveh Provincial Council announced that Iraq's joint military forces have inched closer to the Mosul International Airport and were only few kilometers away from the airport.
"The Iraqi forces are three kilometers away from Mosul International Airport in the Southern part of the city," al-Sumeriya news channel quoted Hesameddin al-Abar as saying.
Iraqi Interior Ministry Spokesman Sa'ad Ma'an
Al-Abar said that the Iraqi forces have managed to take control of the village of Albu Seif to the South of Mosul.
The provincial official also said that the Iraqi forces are completing their advances in areas South of Mosul, adding, "The Iraqi forces also continue their advances towards Mosul city center from the Northern flank."
The Hashd al-Shaabi forces started the third phase of the military operations in areas on the Western side of Mosul on Monday.
"The main purpose of the third phase of the military operations in Western Mosul is to help Iraq's joint military forces to take control of the remaining areas," Hashd al-Shaabi Spokesman Ahmad al-Assadi said in a statement on Monday.
He reiterated that another objective of the fresh military campaign in Western Mosul is to cut off the terrorists' supply routes from Mosul to Raqqa.
Al-Assadi said that the Iraqi volunteer forces plan to make further advances towards Tal Afar region after seizing back more lands to the West of Mosul city.
On Sunday, al-Assadi declared that a new stage of operations to retake the strategic city of Tal Afar in Nineveh province will start soon.
"Starting the operations to free Tal Afar is a matter of time. The third phase (of operations) to take back the city will start soon," al-Assadi told al-Mayadeen news channel.
Elsewhere, he voiced concern about the growing number of the Turkish forces deployed in Iraq, and said Turkey's presence in Iraq is aimed at rocking the boat in efforts to annihilate the ISIS.
Based on an agreement made earlier, the Iraqi popular forces and Peshmarga Kurdish troops will not be part of the invading forces inside the two cities of Tal Afar and Mosul, while they will help tighten and maintain the siege on the rims of the two cities. Various units of Iraq's armed forces, including the army, police and anti-terrorism troops, will lead the assault, FNA reported.
219