The armored unit 9 of the Iraqi army and the anti-terrorism forces also liberated the villages on the two sides of the highway.

Meantime, Iraqi fighter jets killed tens of ISIL terrorists by pounding their positions in al Maleha village and al-Hazar Y-junction.

The ISIL terrorists spent a night full of nightmares after the Iraqi air forces struck nearly two dozen of its military bases and positions in the city of Mosul on Sunday, eyewitnesses said.

The witnesses also said that a large number of the ISIL terrorists have fled their homes in Mosul after the airstrikes.

Also, on Monday, Iraq’s defense minister said that Senior ISIL leaders began leaving Iraq's Mosul amid a large campaign by the Iraqi military to obliterate the terrorists in the Nineveh province.

ISIL commanders are fleeing with their families to the Syrian territory amid an army campaign to liberate the Nineveh province from the terrorists,” said Khaled Obeidi.

"Some ISIL commanders attempted to enter the region of Iraqi Kurdistan," the minister said.

Obeidi added that he had received such information from his own sources and from intelligence agencies.

Mosul, the second largest Iraqi city, populated by about 500,000 people, was turned by the ISIL terrorist group into one of its stronghold in 2014.

Iraqi forces supported by Kurdish Peshmerga militia are carrying out operations in the ancient city of Nineveh in preparation for an assault on Mosul, which is set to be carried out with the aerial support from the US-led international coalition; FNA reported.

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