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Heavy fighting as Iraqi troops drive deeper into Mosul

 
Iraqi special forces move in formation Friday in an alley on the outskirts of Mosul. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of the city as Iraqis pushed deeper into the urban areas.
Iraqi special forces move in formation Friday in an alley on the outskirts of Mosul. Heavy fighting erupted in the eastern neighborhoods of the city as Iraqis pushed deeper into the urban areas.
Published Nov. 5, 2016

MOSUL, Iraq — Iraqi special forces launched a two-pronged assault deeper into Mosul's urban center on Friday, unleashing the most intense street battles against Islamic State militants since the offensive began nearly three weeks ago.

Smoke rose across eastern neighborhoods of Iraq's second-largest city as heavy fighting continued after sundown, with explosions and machine gun fire echoing in the streets as mosques called for evening prayer.

More than 3,000 Iraqi troops took part in the assault under heavy U.S.-led coalition air support, but the pace of the fight also slowed as Iraqi forces moved from fighting in more rural areas with few civilians to the tight, narrow streets of Mosul proper. Sniper fire repeatedly stalled the advance, as commanders called in airstrikes or artillery support after coming under fire.

As the operation got under way, columns of armored vehicles wound through the desert, pushing through dirt berms and drawing heavy fire as they closed in on the middle-class Tahrir and Zahara districts. The area was once named after former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Seven suicide attackers in explosives-laden vehicles barreled toward the troops, with two getting through and detonating their charges, Lt. Col. Muhanad al-Timimi told the Associated Press. The others were destroyed, including a bulldozer that was hit by an airstrike from the U.S.-led coalition supporting the offensive.

At least seven special forces troops were killed and an officer and three soldiers were wounded, the Associated Press reported, speaking to an Iraqi military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to brief reporters.

"The operation is going well, but it's slow. These kinds of advances are always slow," said Iraqi special forces Capt. Malik Hameed, as Islamic State fighters could be seen running in the distance to reposition themselves. "If we tried to go any faster we would take even more injuries."

An Iraqi television journalist traveling in a Humvee was wounded in one of the suicide car bomb attacks.

Earlier, at the eastern approach to the city's urban center, militants holed up in a building fired a rocket at an Iraqi Abrams tank, disabling it and sending its crew fleeing from the smoking vehicle. The advance in that area then stalled.

The push began as dawn broke with artillery and mortar strikes on the Aden, Tahrir, and Quds districts, al-Timimi said.

On the heels of the special forces advances, the Iraqi army's ninth division moved into the eastern Intisar neighborhood, said an officer from the unit who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

On Tuesday, Iraqi troops entered the city limits for the first time in more than two years.