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Mosul: Most intense day of fighting since offensive began

By Ben Wedeman, Angela Dewan and Euan McKirdy, CNN
Updated 1512 GMT (2312 HKT) October 20, 2016
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/20/middleeast/mosul-isis-operation-iraq/index.html?adkey=bn

VIDEO
Kurdish Peshmerga forces push toward Mosul 02:19
Near Mosul, Iraq (CNN)[Breaking news update 11:10 am ET]

Iraqi forces have retaken the Christian town of Bartella from ISIS as part of the offensive to retake Mosul, Iraqi Maj. Gen. Maan al-Saadi said Thursday. He said Iraqi forces inflicted heavy losses on ISIS militants, killing 200 of them and destroying nine trucks laden with explosives before they reached Iraqi positions. But Saadi acknowledged a few pockets of resistance remain inside the town. He said they would be cleared before nightfall.

[Previous story published 09:45 am ET]

Iraqi-led forces engaged Thursday in the most intense fighting yet in the battle to liberate the city of Mosul from two years of brutal ISIS rule on day four of an offensive that's been met with fierce resistance from ISIS fighters.

But with the clashes have come sweeping gains -- the coalition has now recaptured at least 100 square kilometers of territory, a CNN analysis of the battlefield shows.

The operation is going faster than expected, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said earlier Thursday, as Peshmerga fighters opened a new front from the north, liberating several villages from ISIS control some 20 kilometers from the city.

The Iraqi-led coalition of forces launched the Mosul operation on Monday with around 100,000 people closing in on the strategic city, seen as the cultural capital of ISIS's envisaged caliphate, or so-called Islamic State.

Latest Developments

Iraqi military officials say armored military vehicles are now stationed some four miles from the city

Peshmerga forces now clearing the ISIS-held Christian village, Batnaya, about 20 kilometers north of Mosul, local TV reports say

Iraqi forces engaged in heavy clashes with militants on the edges of other ISIS-controlled Christian towns, Bartella and Hamdaniya

Airstrikes are targeting sniper positions there, Kurdish commanders say

ISIS has sent several vehicle suicide bombs toward Kurdish frontlines, but most were destroyed, according to Kurdish commanders

A CNN team on the ground in various locations near Mosul said Thursday was the most intense so far in terms of the number of fronts where clashes are taking place and the variety of forces engaged.

The 100,000-strong coalition brings together Iraqi security forces, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and several paramilitary groups representing religious minorities, including Shia and Christian Iraqis. It marks an extraordinary union between factions that have long stood on opposing sides in Iraq's history.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/20/middleeast/mosul-isis-operation-iraq/index.html?adkey=bn