Security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the explosions took place in al-Noor and in al-Tamim neighborhoods of Mosul, located some 400 kilometers north of the capital, Baghdad, on Saturday afternoon, Lebanon-based Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news network reported.
Major General Maan al-Saadi, a commander of the Iraqi army's special forces, which are spearheading the operation to retake Mosul, announced on December 12 that government troops had liberated al-Noor district from the grip of Daesh terrorists.
Earlier on Saturday, Aero L-159 ALCA fighter jets of the Iraqi Air Force pounded a Daesh communication center in the central Bab al-Toub neighborhood of Mosul, in addition to an arms depot in al-Darnaj village.
The Iraqi Defense Ministry said in a statement that the airstrikes were conducted in cooperation with the Directorate General for Intelligence and Security.
Another weapons depot belonging to Daesh terrorists was bombarded in Albu Saif village. Iraqi military aircraft also struck Ghazlani military base near Mosul.
The statement added that three Daesh weapons caches, a command center and a financial and cash-distribution center were targeted and destroyed inside Mosul.
Moreover, Daesh positions, workshops for booby-trapping vehicles and manufacturing bombs, as well as a major depot for the storage of the terrorists’ weapons and ammunition were destroyed in airstrikes across the city of Tal Afar, situated 63 kilometers west of Mosul.
On October 17, Iraqi army soldiers, supported by fighters from Hashd al-Sha’abi or Popular Mobilization Units, and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, launched a joint operation to retake Mosul from Daesh terrorists.
The Iraqi forces’ advance has, however, been slowed down due to the presence of hundreds of thousands of civilians, many of whom are prevented from leaving Mosul by Daesh.
The media center of Popular Mobilization Units also said pro-government volunteer forces had fired a guided missile at a Daesh pickup truck near Jebel Makhoul region north of Tikrit, destroying it. The vehicle was equipped with a heavy machine gun.
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