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Iraqi army's elite force pauses advance near Mosul
US-trained Counter Terrorism Service paused its week-long advance on Mosul, waiting for other US-backed forces to close in on the city
government forces and allied Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are still fighting their way towards the outer limits of Mosul PHOTO: Reuters
An elite unit of the Iraqi army paused its week-long advance on Mosul as it approached the city's eastern edge on Tuesday, waiting for other US-backed forces to close in on Daesh's last major urban stronghold in Iraq.
On the ninth day of the offensive on Mosul, government forces and allied Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are still fighting their way towards the outer limits of the northern city, Reuters news agency reported.
The first force to get near to Mosul, advancing to within two kilometres of Iraq's second largest city, was reportedly the elite US-trained Counter Terrorism Service (CTS).
CTS troops are said to have moved in from the east, dislodging Daesh from a Christian region that has been empty of residents since the ultra-hardline militants took it over in 2014.
Some 1.5 million residents remain in the city and worst-case forecasts see up to a million being uprooted, according to the United Nations.
UN aid agencies said the fighting has so far forced about 9,000 to flee their homes, but Reuters cites UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande who said the United Nations expects a mass exodus from Mosul, perhaps within the next few days.
