More than 61 villages retaken from Daesh in Mosul: Sources

– Nearly 1,400 families also liberated since start of ongoing campaign to retake Daesh-held city

– Over 60 villages have been retaken from the terrorist group Daesh since the Oct. 18 start of the military campaign to recapture the city of Mosul in Nineveh province, the Iraqi federal police announced Sunday, according to Anadolu Agency.

“Iraqi forces have retaken 61 villages, liberated some 1,400 kilometers of land, and evacuated about 1,396 displaced families since the start of the Mosul operation,” Lt. Gen. Raed Shakir Jawdat said in a statement on Iraqi state television.

“At least 747 Daesh terrorists have been killed and 88 others arrested during the operation,” he added, but gave no figures for losses suffered by the Iraqi army.

On Oct. 18, the Iraqi army – backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes –launched a much-anticipated operation to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, which Daesh overran in mid-2014.

While most of the villages on the city’s outskirts have since fallen, Daesh remains in control of Mosul, the last Daesh stronghold in northern Iraq.

Iraqi army takes 2 more villages from Daesh

The Iraqi forces have captured two more villages near the northern city of Mosul from Daesh militants, according to an Iraqi army officer.

Ahmed al-Shemari, a captain in the Iraqi army’s Nineveh Operations Command, said army forces seized control of the villages of al-Hokool and Ali Rash north and east of Mosul.

On Oct. 18, the Iraqi army — backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes — launched a much-anticipated operation to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city which Daesh overran in mid-2014.

While most villages on the city’s outskirts have since fallen, Daesh remains in control of Mosul, the last Daesh stronghold in northern Iraq.