Iraqi forces gained ground from the Islamic State group in Mosul and have deployed snipers in the Old City to target the jihadists, officers said on Tuesday.

Iraqi forces launched a major operation to recapture west Mosul -- the most-populated urban area still held by IS -- on February 19, and have retaken a series of neighbourhoods from the jihadists.

Iraqi interior ministry forces are now battling IS in the Old City, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are believed to reside, while the Counter-Terrorism Service is fighting to reclaim areas further west.

Iraq's Joint Operations Command announced on Tuesday that CTS forces had recaptured the Al-Risala and Shaqaq Nablus areas of west Mosul.

In the Old City, "dozens of snipers" have been deployed atop buildings to target the jihadists as Iraqi forces seek to advance toward the Al-Nuri mosque.

The mosque is where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only known public appearance, calling on Muslims to "obey" him.

The battle for west Mosul has pushed more than 180,000 people to flee their homes, according to the Iraqi government.

Some 111,000 have sought shelter in nearby camps and reception centres while many others have stayed with relatives, the ministry of displacement and migration said.

IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes and other support have since regained much of the territory they lost.

Iraqi forces launched the operation to retake Mosul in October, recapturing its eastern side before setting their sights on its smaller but more-densely populated west.

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Trump hosts Iraqi leader, says Mosul mission 'moving along'
Washington (AFP) March 20, 2017
President Donald Trump said the operation against the Islamic State group in Mosul is "moving along," as he hosted Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi at the White House on Monday. In a meeting on the 14th anniversary of the US invasion, Trump questioned whether the United States should have pulled combat troops out of the country. "We should never ever have left," he said, after previo ... read more

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