BREAKING NEWS

Iraq launches offensive against Islamic State south of Mosul

By REUTERS

MARCH 24, 2016 16:14

Updated: MARCH 24, 2016 16:13

Iraq's armed forces went on the offensive against Islamic State in the northern province of Nineveh on Thursday in what Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi described as the first phase of a campaign to liberate areas around the city of Mosul.

The assault was launched from the Makhmour area, to which thousands of Iraqi troops have deployed in recent weeks, setting up base alongside Kurdish peshmerga and US forces around 60 km south of Mosul, Islamic State's main bastion.

Iraqi officials say they will retake Mosul this year but, in private, many question whether the army, which partially collapsed when Islamic State overran a third of the country in June 2014, will be ready in time.

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