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Iraqi army says it reached centre of Shirqat

September 22, 2016 at 2:15 pm

Iraq’s military yesterday seized the centre of Shirqat, a northern town seen as a stepping stone in the campaign to recapture Mosul from Daesh.

The army, backed by airstrikes from a US-led coalition, local police and Sunni Muslim tribal fighters, were still clashing with the ultra-hardline jihadists after taking control of the mayor’s office, the municipal building and the hospital, said a source from the Salahuddin Operations Command, which oversees military operations in the area.

Shirqat, 100 kilometres south of Mosul, has been surrounded by Iraqi troops and Iranian-backed Shia Muslim militias allied to the government but the militias so far have not participated in the operation.

Iraqi forces have advanced swiftly through the Shirqat area since Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi announced the operation on Tuesday morning.

The town’s proximity to Iraqi supply lines reaching Qayyara airbase further north, which will be used as a logistics hub for the push on Mosul, lends it strategic importance.

Tens of thousands of civilians were thought to be trapped in the area, which has been under Daesh control since the group seized a third of Iraqi territory in 2014.