Alalam - Iraq

Fighting on all fronts, but centred mainly on the city's eastern edge, has slowed recently as suicide car bombings, snipers and concern over the safety of civilians have hampered the Iraqi troops' advance toward the city centre.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday that the offensive was continuing.Mosul, about 225 miles (360 kilometres) northwest of Baghdad, is Iraq's second-largest city and the last major ISIS group's urban bastion of their self-styled caliphate in the country.

It fell into the hands of ISIS (ISIL, IS, Daesh) militants during their June 2014 onslaught that left the group in control of large swathes of northern and western Iraq, AP reported.

SA